diff --git a/phase1_gitea_unraid.sh b/phase1_gitea_unraid.sh
index bf7aa77..9245287 100755
--- a/phase1_gitea_unraid.sh
+++ b/phase1_gitea_unraid.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ require_vars UNRAID_IP UNRAID_SSH_USER UNRAID_SSH_PORT \
              GITEA_DB_TYPE GITEA_VERSION \
              GITEA_INTERNAL_URL GITEA_DOMAIN
 
+if [[ "${GITEA_DB_TYPE}" != "sqlite3" ]]; then
+  require_vars GITEA_DB_HOST GITEA_DB_PORT GITEA_DB_NAME GITEA_DB_USER GITEA_DB_PASSWD
+fi
+
 phase_header 1 "Gitea on Unraid"
 
 # Alias for shorter references in template rendering.
@@ -24,6 +28,49 @@ phase_header 1 "Gitea on Unraid"
 # works for both Unraid (Phase 1) and Fedora (Phase 2).
 DATA_PATH="$UNRAID_GITEA_DATA_PATH"
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# DB-specific variables — set based on GITEA_DB_TYPE for template rendering.
+# For sqlite3, the DB service blocks are stripped entirely.
+# For external DBs, these vars populate the docker-compose DB service.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+_set_db_vars() {
+  case "${GITEA_DB_TYPE}" in
+    postgres)
+      DB_DOCKER_IMAGE="postgres:16-alpine"
+      DB_ENV_VARS="      - POSTGRES_USER=${GITEA_DB_USER}
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${GITEA_DB_PASSWD}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=${GITEA_DB_NAME}"
+      DB_HEALTHCHECK='["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U '"${GITEA_DB_USER}"'"]'
+      DB_DATA_DIR="postgresql/data"
+      ;;
+    mysql)
+      DB_DOCKER_IMAGE="mysql:8.0"
+      DB_ENV_VARS="      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${GITEA_DB_PASSWD}
+      - MYSQL_DATABASE=${GITEA_DB_NAME}
+      - MYSQL_USER=${GITEA_DB_USER}
+      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${GITEA_DB_PASSWD}"
+      DB_HEALTHCHECK='["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]'
+      DB_DATA_DIR="mysql"
+      ;;
+    mssql)
+      DB_DOCKER_IMAGE="mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest"
+      DB_ENV_VARS="      - ACCEPT_EULA=Y
+      - SA_PASSWORD=${GITEA_DB_PASSWD}"
+      DB_HEALTHCHECK='["CMD-SHELL", "/opt/mssql-tools18/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P '"'"'${GITEA_DB_PASSWD}'"'"' -Q \"SELECT 1\" -C -N"]'
+      DB_DATA_DIR="mssql/data"
+      ;;
+  esac
+  export DB_DOCKER_IMAGE DB_ENV_VARS DB_HEALTHCHECK DB_DATA_DIR
+}
+
+# Strip conditional blocks from a rendered file.
+# Usage: _strip_block <file> <start_marker> <end_marker>
+_strip_block() {
+  local file="$1" start="$2" end="$3"
+  sed -i.bak "/${start}/,/${end}/d" "$file"
+  rm -f "${file}.bak"
+}
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Step 1: Create data directories
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -32,6 +79,10 @@ if ssh_exec UNRAID "test -d '${DATA_PATH}/data'"; then
   log_info "Data directory already exists — skipping"
 else
   ssh_exec UNRAID "mkdir -p '${DATA_PATH}/data' '${DATA_PATH}/config'"
+  # Create DB data directory for external databases
+  if [[ "${GITEA_DB_TYPE}" != "sqlite3" ]]; then
+    ssh_exec UNRAID "mkdir -p '${DATA_PATH}/db'"
+  fi
   log_success "Data directories created"
 fi
 
@@ -45,8 +96,20 @@ else
   TMPFILE=$(mktemp)
   # Set variables for template
   export DATA_PATH GITEA_PORT="${UNRAID_GITEA_PORT}" GITEA_SSH_PORT="${UNRAID_GITEA_SSH_PORT}"
-  render_template "${SCRIPT_DIR}/templates/docker-compose-gitea.yml.tpl" "$TMPFILE" \
-    "\${GITEA_VERSION} \${DATA_PATH} \${GITEA_PORT} \${GITEA_SSH_PORT}"
+
+  if [[ "$GITEA_DB_TYPE" == "sqlite3" ]]; then
+    # No DB service needed — render template then strip DB blocks
+    render_template "${SCRIPT_DIR}/templates/docker-compose-gitea.yml.tpl" "$TMPFILE" \
+      "\${GITEA_VERSION} \${DATA_PATH} \${GITEA_PORT} \${GITEA_SSH_PORT}"
+    _strip_block "$TMPFILE" "DB_SERVICE_START" "DB_SERVICE_END"
+    _strip_block "$TMPFILE" "DB_DEPENDS_START" "DB_DEPENDS_END"
+  else
+    # External DB — set DB-specific vars then render, strip sqlite markers
+    _set_db_vars
+    render_template "${SCRIPT_DIR}/templates/docker-compose-gitea.yml.tpl" "$TMPFILE" \
+      "\${GITEA_VERSION} \${DATA_PATH} \${GITEA_PORT} \${GITEA_SSH_PORT} \${DB_DOCKER_IMAGE} \${DB_ENV_VARS} \${DB_DATA_DIR} \${DB_HEALTHCHECK}"
+  fi
+
   scp_to UNRAID "$TMPFILE" "${DATA_PATH}/docker-compose.yml"
   rm -f "$TMPFILE"
   log_success "docker-compose.yml deployed"
@@ -63,8 +126,17 @@ else
   # Generate a random secret key for this instance
   GITEA_SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
   export GITEA_SECRET_KEY
-  render_template "${SCRIPT_DIR}/templates/app.ini.tpl" "$TMPFILE" \
-    "\${GITEA_DOMAIN} \${GITEA_DB_TYPE} \${GITEA_SECRET_KEY}"
+
+  if [[ "$GITEA_DB_TYPE" == "sqlite3" ]]; then
+    render_template "${SCRIPT_DIR}/templates/app.ini.tpl" "$TMPFILE" \
+      "\${GITEA_DOMAIN} \${GITEA_DB_TYPE} \${GITEA_SECRET_KEY}"
+    _strip_block "$TMPFILE" "EXTDB_BLOCK_START" "EXTDB_BLOCK_END"
+  else
+    render_template "${SCRIPT_DIR}/templates/app.ini.tpl" "$TMPFILE" \
+      "\${GITEA_DOMAIN} \${GITEA_DB_TYPE} \${GITEA_SECRET_KEY} \${GITEA_DB_HOST} \${GITEA_DB_PORT} \${GITEA_DB_NAME} \${GITEA_DB_USER} \${GITEA_DB_PASSWD}"
+    _strip_block "$TMPFILE" "SQLITE_BLOCK_START" "SQLITE_BLOCK_END"
+  fi
+
   scp_to UNRAID "$TMPFILE" "${DATA_PATH}/config/app.ini"
   rm -f "$TMPFILE"
   log_success "app.ini deployed"