diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/harness-replays.yml b/.gitea/workflows/harness-replays.yml
index ffa73600..f83d03b1 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/harness-replays.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/harness-replays.yml
@@ -220,12 +220,14 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           if [ -z "${MOLECULE_GITEA_TOKEN}" ]; then
-            echo "::error::AUTO_SYNC_TOKEN secret is empty — register the devops-engineer persona PAT in repo Actions secrets"
-            exit 1
+            echo "::warning::AUTO_SYNC_TOKEN not set — using anonymous clone (repos are public per manifest.json OSS contract)"
           fi
           mkdir -p .tenant-bundle-deps
+          # Strip JSON5 comments before jq parsing — Integration Tester appends
+          # `// Triggered by ...` which breaks `jq` in clone-manifest.sh.
+          sed '/^[[:space:]]*\/\//d' manifest.json > .manifest-stripped.json
           bash scripts/clone-manifest.sh \
-            manifest.json \
+            .manifest-stripped.json \
             .tenant-bundle-deps/workspace-configs-templates \
             .tenant-bundle-deps/org-templates \
             .tenant-bundle-deps/plugins
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/publish-workspace-server-image.yml b/.gitea/workflows/publish-workspace-server-image.yml
index 72be551b..db84492b 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/publish-workspace-server-image.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/publish-workspace-server-image.yml
@@ -96,8 +96,11 @@ jobs:
           # 2026-05-08 migration). The token is only needed for private repos.
           # Do NOT require it — a missing secret would fail the build unnecessarily.
           mkdir -p .tenant-bundle-deps
+          # Strip JSON5 comments before jq parsing — Integration Tester appends
+          # `// Triggered by ...` which breaks `jq` in clone-manifest.sh.
+          sed '/^[[:space:]]*\/\//d' manifest.json > .manifest-stripped.json
           bash scripts/clone-manifest.sh \
-            manifest.json \
+            .manifest-stripped.json \
             .tenant-bundle-deps/workspace-configs-templates \
             .tenant-bundle-deps/org-templates \
             .tenant-bundle-deps/plugins