diff --git a/action.yaml b/action.yaml
index 470a90121..6d29a6dcb 100644
--- a/action.yaml
+++ b/action.yaml
@@ -102,13 +102,30 @@ runs:
       # ubuntu-24.04 doesn't package apk, so fetch the official statically-linked binary from
       # upstream so mkosi can use it to populate the postmarketOS tools tree.
       #
+      # Since GitLab's API can be unreliable, this is retried a few times if there
+      # is a failure when fetching.
+      #
       # NOTE: apk is dropped into /usr/bin and not /usr/local/bin because later CI
       # scripts (like .github/workflows/ci.yml) clean up /usr/local
       if: ${{ inputs.apk == 'true' }}
       shell: bash
       run: |
-        sudo curl -fsSL -o /usr/bin/apk https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/api/v4/projects/5/packages/generic/v3.0.6/x86_64/apk.static
-        echo 'f1489e05bace7d7dd0a687fcd38d50b585ac660af4231668b123649bef3718c4  /usr/bin/apk' | sha256sum --check
+        set +e
+        APK_TOOLS_API="https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/api/v4/projects/5"
+        APK_VERSION=$(curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors "${APK_TOOLS_API}/repository/tags" | jq -r '.[].name' | grep -v '_rc' | sort -V | tail -1)
+        APK_PKG_ID=$(curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors "${APK_TOOLS_API}/packages?package_name=${APK_VERSION}&package_type=generic" | jq '.[] | select(.version == "x86_64") | .id' | sort -n | tail -1)
+        APK_SHA256=$(curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors "${APK_TOOLS_API}/packages/${APK_PKG_ID}/package_files" | jq -r '.[0].file_sha256')
+        set -e
+
+        # If the API fails, fall back to a known-good version
+        if [ -z "$APK_VERSION" ] || [ -z "$APK_SHA256" ] || [ "$APK_SHA256" = null ]
+        then
+            APK_VERSION='v3.0.6'
+            APK_SHA256='f1489e05bace7d7dd0a687fcd38d50b585ac660af4231668b123649bef3718c4'
+        fi
+
+        sudo curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors -o /usr/bin/apk "$APK_TOOLS_API/packages/generic/${APK_VERSION}/x86_64/apk.static"
+        echo "${APK_SHA256}  /usr/bin/apk" | sha256sum --check
         sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/apk
 
     - name: Dependencies