diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/forge.rs b/swarm-controller/src/forge.rs
index ca4271a9..af87462a 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/src/forge.rs
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/forge.rs
@@ -624,8 +624,11 @@ impl Client {
         // arm's line reads exactly like a first, correct registration.
         //
         // The two ways to reach a create have different causes, so they are
-        // separated: `listed=0` is a permission or scope problem, a non-zero
-        // count with no match means the recorded url is not the one compared.
+        // separated: `listed=0` means the create is not landing in the set
+        // the list reads (a bucket or permission problem — see
+        // [`HookScope::extra_create_config`], which is where the instance
+        // scope's own version of that went wrong), a non-zero count with no
+        // match means the recorded url is not the one compared.
         match scope.list_hook_urls(&self.api).await {
             Ok(urls) => {
                 if urls.iter().any(|u| u == target_url) {
@@ -650,6 +653,9 @@ impl Client {
 
         let mut additional = BTreeMap::new();
         additional.insert("secret".to_owned(), secret.to_owned());
+        for (key, value) in scope.extra_create_config() {
+            additional.insert((*key).to_owned(), (*value).to_owned());
+        }
         let hook = CreateHookOption {
             active: Some(true),
             authorization_header: None,
@@ -692,11 +698,33 @@ enum HookScope<'a> {
     /// Forgejo's "global (system) webhook" — fires for every repo in the
     /// instance, in every org, present or future. The `admin_*` API
     /// namespace; needs the same `write:admin` scope
-    /// `Client::ensure_agent_user` already requires on this token.
+    /// `Client::ensure_agent_user` already requires on this token, **and**
+    /// the `is_system_webhook` config key from
+    /// [`Self::extra_create_config`] — that endpoint's default is the
+    /// *other* kind of admin hook.
     Instance,
 }
 
 impl HookScope<'_> {
+    /// Config-map keys the create call needs beyond the shared ones.
+    ///
+    /// Instance scope carries `is_system_webhook`, and it is load-bearing
+    /// twice over. `POST /admin/hooks` reads that key **out of the config
+    /// map** and defaults it to `false`, which makes a forgejo *default*
+    /// webhook — a template copied into repos created later, not a live
+    /// hook — while `GET /admin/hooks` returns only webhooks with the flag
+    /// set. Omitting it therefore breaks both halves at once: the hook is
+    /// not the instance-wide one this scope exists for, and
+    /// [`Self::list_hook_urls`] can never see it, so every process start
+    /// creates another one — twelve in a day, `listed=0` each time,
+    /// before this key was sent.
+    fn extra_create_config(&self) -> &'static [(&'static str, &'static str)] {
+        match self {
+            Self::Repo { .. } | Self::Org { .. } => &[],
+            Self::Instance => &[("is_system_webhook", "true")],
+        }
+    }
+
     /// The `url` config value of every hook currently on this scope.
     async fn list_hook_urls(&self, api: &Forgejo) -> Result<Vec<String>, ForgejoError> {
         let hooks = match self {