diff --git a/.zuul.yaml b/.zuul.yaml
index 716e4452ff..ba2e566c1e 100644
--- a/.zuul.yaml
+++ b/.zuul.yaml
@@ -614,6 +614,7 @@
     description: |
       Run the playbook for the gitea servers.
     dependencies: opendev-buildset-registry
+    timeout: 3600
     nodeset:
       nodes:
         - name: bridge.openstack.org
@@ -625,6 +626,7 @@
     vars:
       run_playbooks:
         - playbooks/service-gitea-lb.yaml
+        - playbooks/remote_puppet_git.yaml
       run_test_playbook: playbooks/test-gitea.yaml
     host-vars:
       gitea01.opendev.org:
diff --git a/playbooks/remote_puppet_git.yaml b/playbooks/remote_puppet_git.yaml
index 2f9bfcb948..3ea1abeb07 100644
--- a/playbooks/remote_puppet_git.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/remote_puppet_git.yaml
@@ -27,8 +27,7 @@
   strategy: free
   max_fail_percentage: 1
   roles:
-    - role: gitea-git-repos
-      project_config_ref: "{{ hostvars.localhost.gitinfo.after }}"
+    - gitea-git-repos
 
 - hosts: "review:!disabled"
   name: "Puppet-git: Run puppet on the Gerrit server"
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
index 7f0492eb6b..2681985716 100755
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
+import datetime
 import time
 import requests
 import urllib.parse
@@ -38,7 +39,8 @@ class Gitea(object):
         self._log = []
 
     def log(self, *args):
-        self._log.append(" ".join(args))
+        now = datetime.datetime.utcnow().isoformat()
+        self._log.append(" ".join((now,) + args))
 
     def get_log(self):
         return "\n".join(self._log)
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml
index 7e51a49a9a..879ea07c22 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -32,15 +32,11 @@
   template:
     src: app.ini.j2
     dest: /var/gitea/conf/app.ini
-- name: Install requests
-  package:
-    name:
-      - python3-requests
-    state: present
-- name: Install docker-compose
+- name: Install distro packages
   package:
     name:
       - docker-compose
+      - python3-requests
     state: present
 - name: Run docker-compose pull
   shell:
diff --git a/playbooks/test-gitea.yaml b/playbooks/test-gitea.yaml
index 252bcc5e7a..54e48b1aea 100644
--- a/playbooks/test-gitea.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/test-gitea.yaml
@@ -1,38 +1,12 @@
-- hosts: "localhost"
-  name: "Setup test project data"
-  vars:
-    projects:
-      - project: opendev/base-jobs
-        description: Zuul configuration common to all OpenDev tenants
-  tasks:
-    - name: Create test project-config directory
-      file:
-        path: "/opt/project-config/gerrit/"
-        state: directory
-    - name: Write test project configuration
-      copy:
-        dest: "/opt/project-config/gerrit/projects.yaml"
-        content: "{{ projects }}"
-
-# TODO(mordred) This should be part of the service, once we refactor
-# the project creation and are running remote_puppet_git.
-- hosts: "gitea"
-  name: "Install and configure gitea"
-  roles:
-    - install-docker
-    - gitea
-
-- hosts: "gitea"
-  name: "Create repos on gitea servers"
-  strategy: free
-  max_fail_percentage: 1
-  roles:
-    - role: gitea-git-repos
-
 - hosts: "gitea"
   tasks:
-    - name: Test project was created in gitea
+    - name: Test base jobs project was created in gitea
       uri:
         url: "https://localhost:3000/opendev/base-jobs"
         validate_certs: false
         status_code: 200
+    - name: Test zuul project was created in gitea
+      uri:
+        url: "https://localhost:3000/zuul/zuul"
+        validate_certs: false
+        status_code: 200