diff --git a/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/Dockerfile.node b/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/Dockerfile.node
deleted file mode 100644
index 904b4c2..0000000
--- a/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/Dockerfile.node
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-FROM node:22-bookworm
-
-# Install Docker client (dind sidecar provides the daemon)
-RUN apt-get update && \
-    apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-      docker.io \
-      git \
-      curl \
-      ca-certificates && \
-    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-# Verify installation
-RUN docker --version && node --version
diff --git a/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/values-node.yaml b/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/values-node.yaml
index d697f0c..c7861e8 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/values-node.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/forgejo-runner/values-node.yaml
@@ -2,12 +2,11 @@
 # runner instance. Only runner.name and runner.labels differ -- everything
 # else (image, dind, persistence, tolerations, nodeSelector) is shared.
 #
-# forgejo-runner-node extends node:22-bookworm with docker.io, so Node + Docker
-# are both available. Built and pushed via homelab CI (build-runner-node.yml).
+# node:22-bookworm ships Node natively. Docker client installed via workflow step if needed.
+# (homelab has no CI; custom runner images built manually if desired)
 runner:
   name: node-runner
-  # Custom image extends node:22-bookworm with docker.io pre-installed
-  labels: "node:docker://forgejo.riotpiao.com/rock/forgejo-runner-node:latest"
+  labels: "node:docker://node:22-bookworm"
 
 # GC CronJob renders only from the default (golang) values to avoid duplicates
 gc: