diff --git a/abra.sh b/abra.sh
index 4b0cbbe..de5cbed 100644
--- a/abra.sh
+++ b/abra.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 export APP_INI_VERSION=v22
-export DOCKER_SETUP_SH_VERSION=v2
+export DOCKER_SETUP_SH_VERSION=v3
 export PG_BACKUP_VERSION=v1
 
 abra_backup_app() {
diff --git a/docker-setup.sh.tmpl b/docker-setup.sh.tmpl
index 206b73f..a3a626c 100644
--- a/docker-setup.sh.tmpl
+++ b/docker-setup.sh.tmpl
@@ -18,9 +18,12 @@ if [ ! -w ${GITEA_TEMP} ]; then echo "${GITEA_TEMP} is not writable"; exit 1; fi
 # (mounted at /etc/gitea/app.ini.init). Gitea must be able to PERSIST settings to app.ini — e.g.
 # Gitea 1.24+ (re)generates and SAVES the [oauth2] JWT_SECRET at LoadCommonSettings; with app.ini
 # mounted directly as a read-only swarm config this fails fatally ("open /etc/gitea/app.ini:
-# read-only file system") on (re)deploy. Seed-once preserves any runtime-persisted state across
-# restarts/upgrades; delete /etc/gitea/app.ini to re-seed from the recipe's rendered config.
-if [ ! -f /etc/gitea/app.ini ]; then
+# read-only file system") on (re)deploy. Seed when MISSING OR EMPTY (`! -s`, not `! -f`): upgrading
+# from a release that mounted app.ini directly as a swarm config leaves a 0-byte placeholder at
+# /etc/gitea/app.ini in the reattached config volume — `! -f` would treat that as "present" and skip,
+# leaving Gitea to boot the install wizard on an empty config. A non-empty app.ini (Gitea's persisted
+# state) is preserved across restarts; truncate/delete it to force a re-seed from the rendered config.
+if [ ! -s /etc/gitea/app.ini ]; then
   cp /etc/gitea/app.ini.init /etc/gitea/app.ini
 fi
 chmod 0600 /etc/gitea/app.ini 2>/dev/null || true