diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/pr-management.yml b/.gitea/workflows/pr-management.yml
index f2e0a83..7a9839c 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/pr-management.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/pr-management.yml
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@ jobs:
       PR_AUTHOR: ${{ gitea.actor }}
 
     steps:
+      # FIX 1: Use standard short syntax to avoid upstream gitea.com connection errors
       - name: Check out repository
-        uses: https://gitea.com/actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
 
@@ -25,8 +26,15 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           API_URL="$API_BASE_URL/repos/$REPO/pulls/$PR_NUMBER/commits"
           MESSAGES=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: token $API_TOKEN" "$API_URL" | jq -r '.[].commit.message')
-          UNIQUE_TYPES=$(echo "$MESSAGES" | grep -oP '^EC-\d+: \K(FEAT|FIX|DOCS|STYLE|REFACTOR|PERF|TEST|CHORE)' | sort -u)
-          if [[ -z "$UNIQUE_TYPES" ]]; then exit 0; fi
+
+          # FIX 2: Added '|| true' to prevent failure if no matches are found (grep returns 1 on no match)
+          UNIQUE_TYPES=$(echo "$MESSAGES" | grep -oP '^EC-\d+: \K(FEAT|FIX|DOCS|STYLE|REFACTOR|PERF|TEST|CHORE)' | sort -u || true)
+
+          if [[ -z "$UNIQUE_TYPES" ]]; then
+            echo "No semantic commit types found."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
           LABELS_JSON=$(echo "$UNIQUE_TYPES" | jq -R '("type: " + (. | ascii_downcase))' | jq -s '{"labels": .}')
           ISSUES_API_URL="$API_BASE_URL/repos/$REPO/issues/$PR_NUMBER/labels"
           curl -s -f -X POST -H "Authorization: token $API_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "$LABELS_JSON" "$ISSUES_API_URL"
@@ -66,10 +74,15 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Auto-assign reviewers
         run: |
-          REVIEWERS_JSON='{ "reviewers": ["psmattas"] }'
+          target_reviewer="psmattas"
 
-          if [[ -n "$REVIEWERS_JSON" ]]; then
-            echo "Requesting review from: $REVIEWERS_JSON"
-            API_URL="$API_BASE_URL/repos/$REPO/pulls/$PR_NUMBER/requested_reviewers"
-            curl -s -f -X POST -H "Authorization: token $API_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "$REVIEWERS_JSON" "$API_URL"
+          # FIX 3: Check if the author is the target reviewer to avoid API error (422)
+          if [[ "$PR_AUTHOR" == "$target_reviewer" ]]; then
+            echo "Author is $target_reviewer. Skipping self-review request."
+            exit 0
           fi
+
+          REVIEWERS_JSON="{\"reviewers\": [\"$target_reviewer\"]}"
+          echo "Requesting review from: $target_reviewer"
+          API_URL="$API_BASE_URL/repos/$REPO/pulls/$PR_NUMBER/requested_reviewers"
+          curl -s -f -X POST -H "Authorization: token $API_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "$REVIEWERS_JSON" "$API_URL"
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml b/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml
index 52b7583..b3e5708 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/stale-issues.yml
@@ -16,15 +16,35 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Mark stale issues
         run: |
-          # Issues with no activity for 30 days
-          THIRTY_DAYS_AGO=$(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