diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1c101ca..36ff97f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@
 * `abra app config <app-name>`
 * `abra app deploy <app-name>`
 * `abra app cmd <app-name> backend migrate`
-* `abra app restart <app-name> minio-bootstrap` (Note: this will appear to fail, but probably worked! Check `abra app logs <app-name> minio-bootstrap`)
 
 You should then be able to visit the landing page of your app, but not yet to login. To login, you need to deploy and integrate single sign on (described below in the "Configure Authentication" section). 
 
+Minio buckets are created automatically on first deploy. To manually trigger: `abra app cmd <app-name> minio minio_initialize`
 
 ## Configure Authentication
 
diff --git a/abra.sh b/abra.sh
index 055ab38..c0b0c3e 100755
--- a/abra.sh
+++ b/abra.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 export ABRA_ENTRYPOINT_VERSION=v5
 export NGINX_CONF_VERSION=v3
 export PG_BACKUP_VERSION=v3
+export MINIO_INITIALIZE_VERSION=v1
 
 environment() {
   # this exports all the secrets as environment variables
@@ -13,3 +14,7 @@ migrate() {
   environment
   python manage.py migrate --noinput
 }
+
+minio_initialize() {
+  /minio-initialize.sh
+}
diff --git a/compose.yml b/compose.yml
index f8255af..60d778d 100644
--- a/compose.yml
+++ b/compose.yml
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ services:
       labels:
         - "traefik.enable=false"
         - "coop-cloud.${STACK_NAME}.timeout=${TIMEOUT:-120}"
-        - "coop-cloud.${STACK_NAME}.version=0.2.6+v4.5.0"
+        - "coop-cloud.${STACK_NAME}.version=0.2.7+v4.5.0"
     user: "${DOCKER_USER:-1000}"
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080"]
@@ -199,29 +199,6 @@ services:
     networks:
       - backend 
 
-  minio-bootstrap:
-    # NOTE: Not started by default, only run with a manual `abra app restart` / `docker service scale`
-    image: minio/mc:RELEASE.2025-05-21T01-59-54Z
-    environment: *minio-env
-    networks:
-      - backend
-    entrypoint: >
-      sh -c "
-      MINIO_ROOT_USER=\"\$$(cat /run/secrets/minio_ru)\" &&   
-      MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=\"\$$(cat /run/secrets/minio_rp)\" &&   
-      /usr/bin/mc alias set docs http://minio:9000 \$${MINIO_ROOT_USER} \"\$${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD}\" &&
-      /usr/bin/mc mb --ignore-existing docs/docs-media-storage &&
-      /usr/bin/mc version enable docs/docs-media-storage &&
-      exit 0"
-    deploy:
-      mode: replicated
-      replicas: 0
-      restart_policy:
-        condition: none
-    secrets:
-      - minio_rp
-      - minio_ru
-
   minio:
     image: minio/minio:RELEASE.2025-05-24T17-08-30Z
     environment: *minio-env
@@ -233,7 +210,8 @@ services:
     networks:
       - backend
     command: minio server /data
-    entrypoint: ["/usr/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+    entrypoint: >
+      sh -c "/minio-initialize.sh & exec /usr/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh \"$$@\"" --
     volumes:
       - minio:/data
     deploy:
@@ -244,6 +222,9 @@ services:
       - source: abra_entrypoint
         target: /abra-entrypoint.sh
         mode: 0555
+      - source: minio_initialize
+        target: /minio-initialize.sh
+        mode: 0555
     secrets:
       - minio_rp
       - minio_ru
@@ -291,6 +272,9 @@ configs:
   abra_entrypoint:
     name: ${STACK_NAME}_entrypoint_${ABRA_ENTRYPOINT_VERSION}
     file: abra-entrypoint.sh
+  minio_initialize:
+    name: ${STACK_NAME}_minio_initialize_${MINIO_INITIALIZE_VERSION}
+    file: minio-initialize.sh
 
 secrets:
   django_sk:
diff --git a/minio-initialize.sh b/minio-initialize.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3511083
--- /dev/null
+++ b/minio-initialize.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+# Wait for minio to be ready (up to 60 seconds)
+i=0
+while ! mc ready local 2>/dev/null; do
+  i=$((i+1))
+  if [ "$i" -ge 60 ]; then
+    echo "minio-initialize: timed out waiting for minio to be ready" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  sleep 1
+done
+
+MINIO_ROOT_USER="$(cat /run/secrets/minio_ru)"
+MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD="$(cat /run/secrets/minio_rp)"
+
+mc alias set docs http://localhost:9000 "${MINIO_ROOT_USER}" "${MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD}"
+
+# Idempotent: skip if bucket already exists
+if mc ls docs/docs-media-storage > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "minio-initialize: bucket 'docs-media-storage' already exists, skipping"
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "minio-initialize: creating bucket 'docs-media-storage'..."
+mc mb docs/docs-media-storage
+mc version enable docs/docs-media-storage
+echo "minio-initialize: done"