diff --git a/BUILDER.md b/BUILDER.md
index d6ac700..f53a866 100644
--- a/BUILDER.md
+++ b/BUILDER.md
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ All through environment variables; nothing about where it runs lives in this rep
 | `OLLAMA_URL` | Ollama for the model (or `MODEL_PROVIDER=gemini` with `GEMINI_API_KEY`) |
 | `SEARXNG_URL`, `READER_URL` | A SearXNG instance (JSON API) and a page-to-text reader (`READER_URL/<page url>`) |
 | `MODEL`, `POLL_INTERVAL`, `WORKER_NAME`, `WORK_DIR` | Optional: model name, poll interval (20s), name shown in the panel, work folder |
+| `BOT_NAME` | Optional: commit author when the token can't read its own account (no `read:user` scope); default `gbr-bot` |
 
 ## Running a build by hand
 
diff --git a/cmd/gbrgames/worker.go b/cmd/gbrgames/worker.go
index d98c920..c8a62fd 100644
--- a/cmd/gbrgames/worker.go
+++ b/cmd/gbrgames/worker.go
@@ -60,7 +60,12 @@ func (c *workerConfig) checkBot() error {
 		Email string `json:"email"`
 	}
 	if err := c.giteaGet("/user", &user); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("GITEA_TOKEN: %w", err)
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "HTTP 403") {
+			return fmt.Errorf("GITEA_TOKEN: %w", err)
+		}
+		// A repository-only token (all the worker needs) may not read its own account: name the author from
+		// BOT_NAME instead. Whether it can push is still checked below.
+		user.Login = envOr("BOT_NAME", "gbr-bot")
 	}
 	var repo struct {
 		Permissions struct {
diff --git a/cmd/gbrgames/worker_test.go b/cmd/gbrgames/worker_test.go
index c1259c5..895d5fe 100644
--- a/cmd/gbrgames/worker_test.go
+++ b/cmd/gbrgames/worker_test.go
@@ -45,3 +45,26 @@ func TestCheckBotNeedsPushAccess(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("bad token: got %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestCheckBotWithRepositoryOnlyToken(t *testing.T) {
+	// Gitea answers /user with 403 when the token only has repository scope
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		switch r.URL.Path {
+		case "/api/v1/user":
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusForbidden)
+			w.Write([]byte(`{"message":"token does not have at least one of required scope(s), required=[read:user]"}`))
+		case "/api/v1/repos/org/games":
+			w.Write([]byte(`{"permissions":{"push":true}}`))
+		}
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	t.Setenv("BOT_NAME", "gbr-bot")
+	c := &workerConfig{gitea: srv.URL, repo: "org/games", botToken: "secret"}
+	if err := c.checkBot(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if c.botLogin != "gbr-bot" || c.botEmail != "gbr-bot@users.noreply" {
+		t.Errorf("identity = %s <%s>", c.botLogin, c.botEmail)
+	}
+}