diff --git a/deploy/gitea/templates/custom/header.tmpl b/deploy/gitea/templates/custom/header.tmpl
index 8bc6bfb..7edbac3 100644
--- a/deploy/gitea/templates/custom/header.tmpl
+++ b/deploy/gitea/templates/custom/header.tmpl
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+{{if .IsSigned}}
+<meta name="hop-signed-user-id" content="{{.SignedUser.ID}}">
+<meta name="hop-signed-user-login" content="{{.SignedUser.Name}}">
+{{end}}
 <link rel="preload" href="{{AssetUrlPrefix}}/img/hop.svg?v=4" as="image" type="image/svg+xml">
 <style>
 html:not([data-hop-native="true"]) {
diff --git a/docs/production-deployment.md b/docs/production-deployment.md
index 7254f1d..12975cc 100644
--- a/docs/production-deployment.md
+++ b/docs/production-deployment.md
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ view check the viewer's repository access before returning potentially
 sensitive prompt text.
 
 The control plane verifies the browser session through Gitea's protected web
-settings route, then uses `GITEA_API_TOKEN` to resolve the server-rendered login
-to Gitea's immutable user ID. Gitea's `/api/v1/user` endpoint is token-only and
-must not be used to validate browser sessions.
+settings route. Hop's custom Gitea header renders the active account's immutable
+user ID into that protected response, so browser-session verification does not
+depend on Gitea's token-only `/api/v1/user` endpoint or `GITEA_API_TOKEN`.
 
 For nginx, the control-plane location should precede the Gitea catch-all:
 
diff --git a/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client.go b/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client.go
index d1e8409..bc9d79c 100644
--- a/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client.go
+++ b/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -17,8 +18,8 @@ import (
 var ErrTokenNotConfigured = errors.New("gitea API token is not configured")
 
 var (
-	settingsUsernameInput = regexp.MustCompile(`(?is)<input\b[^>]*\bid\s*=\s*["']username["'][^>]*>`)
-	settingsDataName      = regexp.MustCompile(`(?is)\bdata-name\s*=\s*(?:"([^"]*)"|'([^']*)')`)
+	signedUserIDMeta    = regexp.MustCompile(`(?is)<meta\s+name=["']hop-signed-user-id["']\s+content=["']([0-9]+)["']\s*/?>`)
+	signedUserLoginMeta = regexp.MustCompile(`(?is)<meta\s+name=["']hop-signed-user-login["']\s+content=(?:"([^"]*)"|'([^']*)')\s*/?>`)
 )
 
 type Repository struct {
@@ -135,8 +136,8 @@ func (c *Client) AuthenticatedUser(ctx context.Context, cookie string) (User, bo
 		return User{}, false, nil
 	}
 	// Gitea's API user endpoint requires an API token and intentionally rejects
-	// browser sessions. The profile settings page is session-authenticated and
-	// renders the signed-in username in a stable input contract.
+	// browser sessions. The protected profile settings page includes Hop's custom
+	// server-rendered user identity metadata for the active Gitea session.
 	u := c.baseURL.JoinPath("user", "settings")
 	req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, u.String(), nil)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -163,24 +164,24 @@ func (c *Client) AuthenticatedUser(ctx context.Context, cookie string) (User, bo
 	if err != nil {
 		return User{}, false, fmt.Errorf("read authenticated user settings: %w", err)
 	}
-	input := settingsUsernameInput.Find(body)
-	attribute := settingsDataName.FindSubmatch(input)
-	if len(attribute) != 3 {
+	idMatch := signedUserIDMeta.FindSubmatch(body)
+	loginMatch := signedUserLoginMeta.FindSubmatch(body)
+	if len(idMatch) != 2 || len(loginMatch) != 3 {
 		return User{}, false, errors.New("gitea settings page did not identify the signed-in user")
 	}
-	login := string(attribute[1])
+	id, err := strconv.ParseInt(string(idMatch[1]), 10, 64)
+	if err != nil || id <= 0 {
+		return User{}, false, errors.New("gitea settings page returned an invalid user ID")
+	}
+	login := string(loginMatch[1])
 	if login == "" {
-		login = string(attribute[2])
+		login = string(loginMatch[2])
 	}
 	login = strings.TrimSpace(html.UnescapeString(login))
 	if login == "" {
 		return User{}, false, errors.New("gitea settings page returned an empty username")
 	}
-	user, err := c.User(ctx, login)
-	if err != nil {
-		return User{}, false, fmt.Errorf("resolve authenticated user %q: %w", login, err)
-	}
-	return user, true, nil
+	return User{ID: id, Login: login}, true, nil
 }
 
 // ViewerCanReadRepository checks a browser's existing Gitea session against
diff --git a/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client_test.go b/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client_test.go
index 0478bb9..c339282 100644
--- a/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client_test.go
+++ b/services/control-plane/internal/gitea/client_test.go
@@ -66,28 +66,21 @@ func TestUserUsesTokenAndDecodesStableID(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestAuthenticatedUserForwardsSessionCookie(t *testing.T) {
 	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
-		switch r.URL.Path {
-		case "/user/settings":
-			if got := r.Header.Get("Cookie"); got != "i_like_gitea=session" {
-				t.Fatalf("cookie = %q", got)
-			}
-			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`<input id="username" name="name" value="alice" data-name="alice" required>`))
-		case "/api/v1/users/alice":
-			if got := r.Header.Get("Authorization"); got != "token gitea-token" {
-				t.Fatalf("authorization = %q", got)
-			}
-			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"id":42,"login":"alice"}`))
-		default:
+		if r.URL.Path != "/user/settings" {
 			t.Fatalf("path = %q", r.URL.Path)
 		}
+		if got := r.Header.Get("Cookie"); got != "i_like_gitea=session" {
+			t.Fatalf("cookie = %q", got)
+		}
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`<meta name="hop-signed-user-id" content="42"><meta name="hop-signed-user-login" content="alice">`))
 	}))
 	defer server.Close()
-	client, err := NewClient(server.URL, "gitea-token")
+	client, err := NewClient(server.URL, "")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	user, authenticated, err := client.AuthenticatedUser(context.Background(), "i_like_gitea=session")
-	if err != nil || !authenticated || user.ID != 42 {
+	if err != nil || !authenticated || user.ID != 42 || user.LoginName() != "alice" {
 		t.Fatalf("user = %#v, authenticated = %t, err = %v", user, authenticated, err)
 	}
 }