diff --git a/modules/gitea/client.ts b/modules/gitea/client.ts
index 62ddb74..0fcc47e 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/client.ts
+++ b/modules/gitea/client.ts
@@ -352,24 +352,34 @@ export class GiteaAdmin {
     GiteaAdmin.fail("/orgs", res);
   }
 
-  /** Ensure the org's package team exists, granting read+write on packages, and return its id. The
-   *  team is found by name if it is already there, created otherwise; a lost create race is resolved
-   *  by re-listing. */
+  /** Ensure the org's package team exists with exactly these units, and return its id. Found or
+   *  created, the units are applied either way — a team is configuration the reconcile loop owns,
+   *  the same as a user's password, so a unit this code gains reaches a team that already exists
+   *  rather than only the next mesh raised from scratch. A lost create race is resolved by
+   *  re-listing. */
   async ensureTeam(org: string, team: string, packageWrite: boolean): Promise<number> {
+    // The units a consumer needs, and no more. `units_map` is exhaustive — a unit not named is a
+    // unit the team does not have — so code read must be said here: without it gitea answers a
+    // member's clone of a private repository with "not found", which is how the builder's first
+    // credentialed clone failed against a team that named only packages.
+    const units = {
+      permission: "read",
+      units_map: { "repo.code": "read", "repo.packages": packageWrite ? "write" : "read" },
+      includes_all_repositories: true,
+      can_create_org_repo: false,
+    };
     const found = await this.findTeam(org, team);
-    if (found !== null) return found;
+    if (found !== null) {
+      const patch = await this.request(`/teams/${found}`, {
+        method: "PATCH",
+        body: JSON.stringify({ name: team, ...units }),
+      });
+      if (patch.status === 200) return found;
+      GiteaAdmin.fail(`/teams/${found}`, patch);
+    }
     const res = await this.request(`/orgs/${encodeURIComponent(org)}/teams`, {
       method: "POST",
-      body: JSON.stringify({
-        name: team,
-        permission: "read",
-        // Package access is a per-unit grant; the team needs write on the packages unit and nothing
-        // else. includes_all_repositories keeps the team's repo view whole without widening its
-        // repo permission beyond read.
-        units_map: { "repo.packages": packageWrite ? "write" : "read" },
-        includes_all_repositories: true,
-        can_create_org_repo: false,
-      }),
+      body: JSON.stringify({ name: team, ...units }),
     });
     if (res.status === 201) return Number(res.body?.id);
     if (res.status === 422 || res.status === 409) {