diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/base-build.yml b/.gitea/workflows/base-build.yml
index f0054d4..9af82bb 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/base-build.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/base-build.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ env:
   DOCKER_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
   DOCKER_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
   VERSIONS: "buster bullseye bookworm"
+  OUTPUT_DIR: /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output
 
 jobs:
   build-rootfs-archives:
@@ -29,36 +30,34 @@ jobs:
       - name: Debug container /output contents
         run: |
           docker run --rm --privileged \
-            -v "$(pwd)/output":/output \
+            -v "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}:/output" \
             -e VERSION=bullseye \
             fithwum/debian-bullseye-base \
             bash -c "ls -lah /output"
 
       - name: Check host output
         run: |
-          OUTPUT_DIR="/mnt/user/git/act_runner_output"
-          mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"
+          mkdir -p "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}"
           ls -lah /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output
 
       - name: Clean workspace tarballs before build
         run: |
           echo "[INFO] Cleaning old tarballs..."
-          rm -fv ./mnt/user/git/act_runner_output/*/debian-*.tar.bz2
-          rm -fv ./mnt/user/git/act_runner_output/*/rootfs-*.tar.bz2
-          rm -fv ./mnt/user/git/act_runner_output/sha256sums.txt
+          rm -f ./debian-*.tar.bz2
+          rm -f ./rootfs-*.tar.bz2
+          rm -f ./sha256sums.txt
 
       - name: Build all Debian rootfs versions sequentially
         run: |
           versions=($VERSIONS)
-          OUTPUT_DIR="/mnt/user/git/act_runner_output"
-          mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"
+          mkdir -p "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}"
 
           for version in "${versions[@]}"; do
             echo "[INFO] Building $version..."
             docker build --build-arg VERSION=$version -t fithwum/debian-$version-base .
 
             docker run --rm --privileged \
-              -v "$OUTPUT_DIR:/output" \
+              -v "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}:/output" \
               -e VERSION="$version" \
               fithwum/debian-$version-base \
               bash -c "ls -lh /output; ls -lh /; ls -lh /builder; /scripts/bootstrap-rootfs.sh \"$version\""
@@ -67,33 +66,33 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Verify tarball exists on host
         run: |
-          find /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output -type f -name '*.tar.bz2' -ls
-          du -sh /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output/*
+          find "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}" -type f -name '*.tar.bz2' -ls
+          du -sh "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}"/*
 
       - name: Check output folder permissions
         run: |
-          ls -ld /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output
-          ls -l /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output/*
+          ls -ld "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}"
+          ls -l "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}"/*
 
       - name: Check output folder on host
         run: |
           echo "Host output folder contents:"
-          ls -R /mnt/user/git/act_runner_output
+          ls -R "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}"
 
       - name: Debug output folder
         run: |
           echo "Archives present in output:"
-          find ./mnt/user/git/act_runner_output -name '*.tar.bz2' -exec ls -lh {} \;
+          find "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}" -name '*.tar.bz2' -exec ls -lh {} \;
 
       - name: List output archives
         run: |
           echo "[INFO] Final archive list:"
-          find ./mnt/user/git/act_runner_output -type f -name 'debian-*.tar.bz2'
+          find "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}" -type f -name 'debian-*.tar.bz2'
 
       - name: Validate that archives exist for each version
         run: |
           for version in $VERSIONS; do
-            path="/mnt/user/git/act_runner_output/$version/debian-$version.tar.bz2"
+            path="${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}/$version/debian-$version.tar.bz2"
             if [[ ! -f "$path" ]]; then
               echo "[ERROR] Missing archive: $path"
               exit 1
@@ -102,6 +101,10 @@ jobs:
             fi
           done
 
+      - name: Clean up Docker cache (optional)
+        if: always()
+        run: docker system prune -af || true
+
   push-archives-to-repo:
     needs: build-rootfs-archives
     runs-on: docker-build
@@ -120,7 +123,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Copy new archives to upload-repo
         run: |
-          found=$(find ./mnt/user/git/act_runner_output -type f -name 'debian-*.tar.bz2')
+          found=$(find "${{ env.OUTPUT_DIR }}" -type f -name 'debian-*.tar.bz2')
           if [ -z "$found" ]; then
             echo "[WARNING] No .tar.bz2 archive found in output/!"
             exit 1