diff --git a/clusters/base/apps/immich/helmrelease-server.yaml b/clusters/base/apps/immich/helmrelease-server.yaml
index 2ca28e1..8f3a0e6 100644
--- a/clusters/base/apps/immich/helmrelease-server.yaml
+++ b/clusters/base/apps/immich/helmrelease-server.yaml
@@ -33,6 +33,16 @@ spec:
               REDIS_PORT: "6379"
               IMMICH_MACHINE_LEARNING_URL: http://immich-ml:3003
             probes:
+              # first boot runs DB migrations + vector index setup, which
+              # can take a while - without a startup probe the default
+              # liveness probe (periodSeconds=10, failureThreshold=3) kills
+              # the container ~30s in, well before it's finished binding
+              # the port, causing an endless restart loop.
+              startup:
+                enabled: true
+                spec:
+                  periodSeconds: 5
+                  failureThreshold: 60
               liveness:
                 enabled: true
               readiness: