diff --git a/backend/LexBoxApi/LexBoxKernel.cs b/backend/LexBoxApi/LexBoxKernel.cs
index 2d6569dba..47f9a946a 100644
--- a/backend/LexBoxApi/LexBoxKernel.cs
+++ b/backend/LexBoxApi/LexBoxKernel.cs
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ public static void AddLexBoxApi(this IServiceCollection services,
         services.AddScoped<TusService>();
         services.AddScoped<TurnstileService>();
         services.AddScoped<IHgService, HgService>();
+        services.AddHostedService<HgService>();
         services.AddTransient<HgWebHealthCheck>();
         services.AddScoped<IIsLanguageForgeProjectDataLoader, IsLanguageForgeProjectDataLoader>();
         services.AddScoped<ILexProxyService, LexProxyService>();
diff --git a/backend/LexBoxApi/Services/HgService.cs b/backend/LexBoxApi/Services/HgService.cs
index 7db803e4c..7e6752e49 100644
--- a/backend/LexBoxApi/Services/HgService.cs
+++ b/backend/LexBoxApi/Services/HgService.cs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 namespace LexBoxApi.Services;
 
-public partial class HgService : IHgService
+public partial class HgService : IHgService, IHostedService
 {
     private const string DELETED_REPO_FOLDER = "_____deleted_____";
     private const string TEMP_REPO_FOLDER = "_____temp_____";
@@ -292,7 +292,8 @@ private async Task<HttpContent> ExecuteHgCommandServerCommand(string code, strin
         return response.Content;
     }
 
-    private static readonly string[] InvalidRepoNames = { DELETED_REPO_FOLDER, TEMP_REPO_FOLDER, "api" };
+    private static readonly string[] SpecialDirectoryNames = [DELETED_REPO_FOLDER, TEMP_REPO_FOLDER];
+    private static readonly IEnumerable<string> InvalidRepoNames = SpecialDirectoryNames.Append("api");
 
     private void AssertIsSafeRepoName(string name)
     {
@@ -366,6 +367,28 @@ public static string DetermineProjectUrlPrefix(HgType type, HgConfig hgConfig)
                 $"Unknown request, HG request type: {type}")
         };
     }
+
+    public Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var repoContainerDirectories = SpecialDirectoryNames
+            .Concat(Enumerable.Range('a', 'z' - 'a' + 1).Select(c => ((char)c).ToString()))
+            .Concat(Enumerable.Range(0, 10).Select(c => c.ToString()));
+
+        foreach (var directory in repoContainerDirectories)
+        {
+            var path = Path.Combine(_options.Value.RepoPath, directory);
+            var dirInfo = Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
+            if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.Linux))
+                dirInfo.UnixFileMode = Permissions;
+        }
+
+        return Task.CompletedTask;
+    }
+
+    public Task StopAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        return Task.CompletedTask;
+    }
 }
 
 public class LogResponse
diff --git a/deployment/base/hg-deployment.yaml b/deployment/base/hg-deployment.yaml
index 2253cd61f..d7c2bd5f3 100644
--- a/deployment/base/hg-deployment.yaml
+++ b/deployment/base/hg-deployment.yaml
@@ -170,21 +170,3 @@ spec:
           items:
           - key: hgweb.hgrc
             path: hgweb.hgrc
-
-      initContainers:
-      - name: init-repo-structure
-        securityContext:
-          runAsUser: 33
-          runAsGroup: 33 # www-data
-          runAsNonRoot: true
-        image: busybox:1.36.1
-        command:
-          - 'sh'
-          - '-c'
-          - |
-            cd /repos
-            mkdir -p a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
-            mkdir -p 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-        volumeMounts:
-          - name: repos
-            mountPath: /repos
diff --git a/deployment/base/lexbox-deployment.yaml b/deployment/base/lexbox-deployment.yaml
index 8d141d288..4c8489e5e 100644
--- a/deployment/base/lexbox-deployment.yaml
+++ b/deployment/base/lexbox-deployment.yaml
@@ -246,3 +246,21 @@ spec:
               configMapKeyRef:
                 name: app-config
                 key: environment-name
+      - name: set-repo-structure-owner-to-www-data
+        securityContext:
+          # Make sure we're authorized to set ownership
+          runAsUser: 0
+          runAsGroup: 0
+          runAsNonRoot: false
+        image: busybox:1.36.1
+        command:
+          - 'sh'
+          - '-c'
+          - |
+            cd /repos
+            chown www-data:www-data .
+            # Only necessary if directories already exist with the wrong ownership
+            find . -maxdepth 1 -type d ! -name lost+found -exec chown www-data:www-data {} +
+        volumeMounts:
+          - name: repos
+            mountPath: /repos