diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/build.yml b/.gitea/workflows/build.yml
index a572cd2..d0aee75 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/build.yml
@@ -60,6 +60,16 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
+      - name: Install build dependencies
+        # winvm-builder is a self-hosted act_runner labeled
+        # "windows-latest" -- it is NOT the GitHub-hosted windows-latest
+        # image, so none of the tools that image preinstalls (cmake
+        # included) can be assumed present. Confirmed by a first CI run
+        # on this repo: "cmake : The term 'cmake' is not recognized...".
+        # lukka/get-cmake downloads a pinned cmake+ninja binary and adds
+        # it to PATH for this job, with no admin/choco dependency.
+        uses: lukka/get-cmake@latest
+
       - name: Configure
         # Same story as macOS: no OBS SDK available yet on this runner,
         # so this proves the core library + MSVC toolchain only.