diff --git a/playbooks/roles/reprepro/tasks/main.yaml b/playbooks/roles/reprepro/tasks/main.yaml
index 6f60848b92..3a5475c624 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/reprepro/tasks/main.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/reprepro/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -49,6 +49,19 @@
     group: root
     mode: '0755'
 
+- name: Ensure run directory at boot
+  copy:
+    # d means create this directory
+    # ! means only evaluate this on boot, creating the dir outside of boot
+    #   can break things
+    # 0755 root root sets perms and ownership
+    # - omits the age value which means do not delete this directory
+    content: "d! /var/run/reprepro 0755 root root -"
+    dest: /etc/tmpfiles.d/reprepro.conf
+    owner: root
+    group: root
+    mode: '0644'
+
 - name: Rotate logfiles
   include_role:
     name: logrotate