diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/example-docker-compose.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/example-docker-compose.yml
index 174e0d5..f0c8e01 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/example-docker-compose.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/example-docker-compose.yml
@@ -34,11 +34,18 @@ jobs:
           cd examples/docker-compose
           secret=$(openssl rand -hex 20)
           sed -i -e "s/{SHARED_SECRET}/$secret/" compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml
-          cli="docker compose --progress quiet -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml -f compose-demo-workflow.yml"
+          cli="docker compose --progress quiet -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml"
           #
-          # Launch
+          # Launch Forgejo & the runner
           #
           $cli up -d
+          for delay in $(seq 60) ; do test -f /srv/runner-data/.runner && break ; sleep 30 ; done
+          test -f /srv/runner-data/.runner
+          #
+          # Run the demo workflow
+          #
+          cli="$cli -f compose-demo-workflow.yml"
+          $cli up -d demo-workflow
           #
           # Wait for the demo workflow to complete
           #
@@ -49,13 +56,14 @@ jobs:
             grep --quiet "$success" /tmp/out && break
             grep --quiet "$failure" /tmp/out && break
             $cli ps --all
-            tail /tmp/out
-            sleep 10
+            $cli logs --tail=20 runner-daemon demo-workflow
+            sleep 30
           done
-          tail /tmp/out
           grep --quiet "$success" /tmp/out
+          $cli logs runner-daemon > /tmp/runner.log
+          grep --quiet 'Start image=node:20-bookworm' /tmp/runner.log
 
-      - name: docker compose logs
+      - name: full docker compose logs
         if: always()
         run: |
           cd examples/docker-compose
diff --git a/examples/docker-compose/README.md b/examples/docker-compose/README.md
index 08738c8..a3e6e9b 100644
--- a/examples/docker-compose/README.md
+++ b/examples/docker-compose/README.md
@@ -13,10 +13,19 @@ rm -fr /srv/runner-data /srv/forgejo-data
 secret=$(openssl rand -hex 20)
 sed -i -e "s/{SHARED_SECRET}/$secret/" compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml
 docker compose -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml up -d
-docker compose -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml -f compose-demo-workflow.yml up demo-workflow
-firefox http://0.0.0.0:8080/root/test/actions/runs/1 # login root, password {ROOT_PASSWORD}
 ```
 
+Visit http://0.0.0.0:8080/admin/actions/runners with login `root` and password `{ROOT_PASSWORD}` and see the runner is registered with the label `docker`.
+
+> NOTE: the `Your ROOT_URL in app.ini is "http://localhost:3000/", it's unlikely matching the site you are visiting.` message is a warning that can be ignored in the context of this example.
+
+```sh
+docker compose -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml -f compose-demo-workflow.yml up demo-workflow
+```
+
+Visit http://0.0.0.0:8080/root/test/actions/runs/1 and see that the job ran.
+
+
 ### Running
 
 Create a shared secret with:
@@ -34,7 +43,7 @@ Replace {ROOT_PASSWORD} with a secure password in
 [compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml](compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml).
 
 ```sh
-docker-compose -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml up
+docker compose -f compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml up
 Creating docker-compose_docker-in-docker_1 ... done
 Creating docker-compose_forgejo_1          ... done
 Creating docker-compose_runner-register_1  ... done
@@ -51,8 +60,8 @@ runner-daemon_1     | time="2023-08-24T10:22:16Z" level=info msg="Starting runne
 To login the Forgejo instance:
 
 * URL: http://0.0.0.0:8080
-* user: root
-* password: {ROOT_PASSWORD}
+* user: `root`
+* password: `{ROOT_PASSWORD}`
 
 `Forgejo Actions` is enabled by default when creating a repository.
 
diff --git a/examples/docker-compose/compose-demo-workflow.yml b/examples/docker-compose/compose-demo-workflow.yml
index 1466635..6b1d561 100644
--- a/examples/docker-compose/compose-demo-workflow.yml
+++ b/examples/docker-compose/compose-demo-workflow.yml
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
-# Copyright 2023 The Forgejo Authors.
+# Copyright 2024 The Forgejo Authors.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
 services:
 
   demo-workflow:
-    image: alpine:3.18
+    image: alpine:3.19
     links:
       - forgejo
-    depends_on:
-      runner-register:
-        condition: service_completed_successfully
     command: >-
       sh -ec '
       apk add --quiet git curl jq ;
diff --git a/examples/docker-compose/compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml b/examples/docker-compose/compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml
index 1269a92..4a54761 100644
--- a/examples/docker-compose/compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml
+++ b/examples/docker-compose/compose-forgejo-and-runner.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2023 The Forgejo Authors.
+# Copyright 2024 The Forgejo Authors.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 
 #
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ services:
       bash -c '
       /bin/s6-svscan /etc/s6 &
       sleep 10 ;
-      su -c "forgejo forgejo-cli actions register --secret {SHARED_SECRET} --labels docker,ubuntu-22.04 --version 3.3.0" git ;
+      su -c "forgejo forgejo-cli actions register --secret {SHARED_SECRET}" git ;
       su -c "forgejo admin user create --admin --username root --password {ROOT_PASSWORD} --email root@example.com" git ;
       sleep infinity
       '
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ services:
       - 8080:3000
 
   runner-register:
-    image: code.forgejo.org/forgejo/runner:3.3.0
+    image: code.forgejo.org/forgejo/runner:3.4.1
     links:
       - docker-in-docker
       - forgejo
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ services:
         forgejo-runner create-runner-file --connect --instance http://forgejo:3000 --name runner --secret {SHARED_SECRET} && break ;
         sleep 1 ;
       done ;
-      sed -i -e "s|\"labels\": null|\"labels\": [\"docker:docker://node:16-bullseye\", \"ubuntu-22.04:docker://catthehacker/ubuntu:act-22.04\"]|" .runner ;
+      sed -i -e "s|\"labels\": null|\"labels\": [\"docker:docker://node:20-bookworm\", \"ubuntu-22.04:docker://catthehacker/ubuntu:act-22.04\"]|" .runner ;
       forgejo-runner generate-config > config.yml ;
       sed -i -e "s|network: .*|network: host|" config.yml ;
       sed -i -e "s|^  envs:$$|  envs:\n    DOCKER_HOST: tcp://docker:2376\n    DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY: 1\n    DOCKER_CERT_PATH: /certs/client|" config.yml ;
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ services:
       '
 
   runner-daemon:
-    image: code.forgejo.org/forgejo/runner:3.3.0
+    image: code.forgejo.org/forgejo/runner:3.4.1
     links:
       - docker-in-docker
       - forgejo
@@ -84,10 +84,10 @@ services:
       DOCKER_HOST: tcp://docker:2376
       DOCKER_CERT_PATH: /certs/client
       DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY: "1"
-    depends_on:
-      runner-register:
-        condition: service_completed_successfully
     volumes:
       - /srv/runner-data:/data
       - docker_certs:/certs
-    command: "forgejo-runner --config config.yml daemon"
+    command: >-
+      bash -c '
+      while : ; do test -w .runner && forgejo-runner --config config.yml daemon ; sleep 1 ; done
+      '