diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml b/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml
index 52b7583..b3e5708 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml
@@ -16,15 +16,35 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Mark stale issues
         run: |
-          # Issues with no activity for 30 days
-          THIRTY_DAYS_AGO=$(date -u -d '30 days ago' '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
+          # Calculate timestamp for 30 days ago (seconds since epoch for comparison)
+          THIRTY_DAYS_AGO_SEC=$(date -d '30 days ago' '+%s')
 
-          # Get all open issues updated before 30 days ago
-          ISSUES=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: token $API_TOKEN" "$API_BASE_URL/repos/$REPO/issues?state=open&since=$THIRTY_DAYS_AGO&sort=updated&order=asc" | jq -c '.[]')
+          # Get all open issues sorted by oldest update first
+          # REMOVED 'since' because it filters for NEWER issues
+          ISSUES=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: token $API_TOKEN" "$API_BASE_URL/repos/$REPO/issues?state=open&sort=updated&order=asc" | jq -c '.[]')
+
+          # Check if we have issues to process
+          if [ -z "$ISSUES" ]; then
+            echo "No open issues found."
+            exit 0
+          fi
 
           echo "$ISSUES" | while IFS= read -r issue; do
+            # Prevent processing empty lines
+            if [ -z "$issue" ]; then continue; fi
+            
             ISSUE_NUMBER=$(echo "$issue" | jq -r '.number')
             UPDATED_AT=$(echo "$issue" | jq -r '.updated_at')
+            
+            # Convert issue update time to seconds
+            UPDATED_AT_SEC=$(date -d "$UPDATED_AT" '+%s')
+
+            # LOGIC CHECK: If the issue is newer than 30 days, stop (since list is sorted asc)
+            if [ "$UPDATED_AT_SEC" -gt "$THIRTY_DAYS_AGO_SEC" ]; then
+               # Found an issue updated recently, so we are done with the old ones
+               continue 
+            fi
+
             HAS_STALE_LABEL=$(echo "$issue" | jq -r '.labels[] | select(.name == "status: stale") | .name')
 
             # Skip if already has stale label