diff --git a/conjurer/bot.yaml b/conjurer/bot.yaml
index d6efd5d..4eee66f 100644
--- a/conjurer/bot.yaml
+++ b/conjurer/bot.yaml
@@ -36,6 +36,14 @@ spec:
             # Pick a model at runtime with: $gadaj_teraz ollama <model>
             # ($modele_ai lists what the server actually has pulled).
             - { name: CONJURER_OLLAMA_URL,        value: "http://192.168.1.72:11434" }
+            # The server currently has exactly one model pulled (verified via
+            # /v1/models): gemma4:e2b. Without this the built-in default
+            # (llama3.1:8b) would be requested and every reply would fail.
+            - { name: CONJURER_OLLAMA_MODEL,      value: "gemma4:e2b" }
+            # Self-hosted generation is far slower than a hosted API, especially
+            # the first request after the model is evicted from VRAM. Applies to
+            # every backend, so keep it only as high as you actually need.
+            - { name: CONJURER_AI_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, value: "240" }
           volumeMounts:
             - { name: data,  mountPath: /data }
             - { name: netrc, mountPath: /secrets, readOnly: true }
diff --git a/conjurer/deploy-bot.yaml b/conjurer/deploy-bot.yaml
index 8dde7cb..ec63bb1 100644
--- a/conjurer/deploy-bot.yaml
+++ b/conjurer/deploy-bot.yaml
@@ -56,6 +56,14 @@ spec:
             # Pick a model at runtime with: $gadaj_teraz ollama <model>
             # ($modele_ai lists what the server actually has pulled).
             - { name: CONJURER_OLLAMA_URL,        value: "http://192.168.1.72:11434" }
+            # The server currently has exactly one model pulled (verified via
+            # /v1/models): gemma4:e2b. Without this the built-in default
+            # (llama3.1:8b) would be requested and every reply would fail.
+            - { name: CONJURER_OLLAMA_MODEL,      value: "gemma4:e2b" }
+            # Self-hosted generation is far slower than a hosted API, especially
+            # the first request after the model is evicted from VRAM. Applies to
+            # every backend, so keep it only as high as you actually need.
+            - { name: CONJURER_AI_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, value: "240" }
           volumeMounts:
             - { name: data,  mountPath: /data }
             - { name: netrc, mountPath: /secrets, readOnly: true }