diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml
index 90caef5ae..3bcc81d9d 100755
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml
@@ -128,6 +128,27 @@ jobs:
           grep -q "Running upgrade" /tmp/alembic-upgrade.sql
           python3 scripts/check_schema_metadata.py
 
+      - name: Start Redis for unit tests
+        shell: sh
+        run: |
+          set -eu
+          docker rm -f ci-redis-validate 2>/dev/null || true
+          docker run -d --name ci-redis-validate \
+            -p 6379:6379 \
+            --health-cmd "redis-cli ping" \
+            --health-interval 2s \
+            --health-timeout 2s \
+            --health-retries 15 \
+            redis:7-alpine
+          for i in $(seq 1 20); do
+            if docker inspect --format='{{.State.Health.Status}}' ci-redis-validate 2>/dev/null | grep -q healthy; then
+              echo "Redis is ready"
+              break
+            fi
+            echo "Waiting for Redis... ($i/20)"
+            sleep 1
+          done
+          docker inspect --format='{{.State.Health.Status}}' ci-redis-validate | grep -q healthy
       - name: Run unit tests
         shell: sh
         env: