diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 9903253..d37e702 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -80,14 +80,16 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install package and dev dependencies
         run: |
-          python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          python3 -m pip install -e .[dev]
+          python3 -m venv .venv
+          . .venv/bin/activate
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          python -m pip install -e .[dev]
 
       - name: Lint
-        run: python3 -m ruff check .
+        run: .venv/bin/python -m ruff check .
 
       - name: Type-check
-        run: python3 -m mypy src
+        run: .venv/bin/python -m mypy src
 
       - name: Test
-        run: python3 -m pytest
+        run: .venv/bin/python -m pytest
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2035ff4..068452c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 - `.gitea/workflows/ci.yml` — Gitea Actions CI workflow for push and pull request events
 - Gitea CI now uses native `git` checkout and system Python setup to avoid host-executor JavaScript action path issues
 - Gitea native checkout now uses `CI_GIT_TOKEN` repository secret for authenticated fetch from private repos
+- Gitea CI now installs dependencies in a local `.venv` to avoid Debian/PEP 668 externally-managed pip errors
 - Python package scaffold with `src` layout and project metadata in `pyproject.toml`
 - Initial CLI entrypoint with agreed SSH flags: `--identity-file`, `--jump-host`, and `--ignore-ssh-config`
 - Input parsing/validation module and core request model