diff --git a/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh b/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh
index c33938b..e6b59a1 100755
--- a/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh
+++ b/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh
@@ -170,12 +170,13 @@ runcmd:
   - pacman -S --noconfirm --needed base-devel git wget curl rust cargo qemu-full edk2-ovmf squashfs-tools xorriso dosfstools mtools python bc rsync openssh tmux
 
   # --- CLONE PROJECT ---------------------------------------------------------
+  # Try HTTPS (with SSL_NO_VERIFY for self-hosted Gitea), fall back to GitHub
   - |
     su - darkforge -c '
       cd /home/darkforge
-      git clone --recurse-submodules https://git.dannyhaslund.dk/danny8632/darkforge.git 2>/dev/null || \
+      GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY=true git clone --recurse-submodules https://git.dannyhaslund.dk/danny8632/darkforge.git 2>/dev/null || \
         git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/danny8632/darkforge.git 2>/dev/null || \
-        echo "CLONE FAILED — manually clone the repo after login"
+        echo "CLONE FAILED — run manually: GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY=true git clone --recurse-submodules https://git.dannyhaslund.dk/danny8632/darkforge.git ~/darkforge"
     '
 
   # --- INSTALL CONVENIENCE COMMAND -------------------------------------------