diff --git a/src/main/cljc/dda/c4k_gitea/gitea.cljc b/src/main/cljc/dda/c4k_gitea/gitea.cljc
index b37849f..55039c6 100644
--- a/src/main/cljc/dda/c4k_gitea/gitea.cljc
+++ b/src/main/cljc/dda/c4k_gitea/gitea.cljc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
      :cljs [orchestra.core :refer-macros [defn-spec]])
   [dda.c4k-common.yaml :as yaml]
   [dda.c4k-common.common :as cm]
+  [dda.c4k-common.base64 :as b64]
   [dda.c4k-common.predicate :as pred]
   [dda.c4k-common.postgres :as postgres]))
 
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@
        "gitea/deployment.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/deployment.yaml")
        "gitea/certificate.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/certificate.yaml")
        "gitea/ingress.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/ingress.yaml")  
+       "gitea/secrets.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/secrets.yaml")
        "gitea/services.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/services.yaml")
        "gitea/traefik-middleware.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/traefik-middleware.yaml")
        "gitea/volumes.yaml" (rc/inline "gitea/volumes.yaml")       
@@ -47,6 +49,15 @@
      (cm/replace-all-matching-values-by-new-value "DBUSER" postgres-db-user)
      (cm/replace-all-matching-values-by-new-value "DBPW" postgres-db-password))))
 
+(defn-spec generate-secrets pred/map-or-seq? 
+  [config config?]
+  (let [{:keys [mailer-user mailer-pw]} config]
+    (->
+     (yaml/load-as-edn "gitea/secrets.yaml")
+     (cm/replace-all-matching-values-by-new-value "MAILERUSER" (b64/encode mailer-user))
+     (cm/replace-all-matching-values-by-new-value "MAILERPW" (b64/encode mailer-pw))
+     )))
+
 (defn-spec generate-ingress pred/map-or-seq? 
   [config config?]
   (let [{:keys [fqdn issuer]} config]
diff --git a/src/main/resources/gitea/appini-configmap.yaml b/src/main/resources/gitea/appini-configmap.yaml
index 89e9541..b5ecc4d 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/gitea/appini-configmap.yaml
+++ b/src/main/resources/gitea/appini-configmap.yaml
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ data:
     [picture]
     AVATAR_UPLOAD_PATH            = /data/gitea/avatars
     REPOSITORY_AVATAR_UPLOAD_PATH = /data/gitea/repo-avatars
-    DISABLE_GRAVATAR              = false
+    DISABLE_GRAVATAR              = true # do we want our gitea talking to gravatar?
     ENABLE_FEDERATED_AVATAR       = true
 
     [attachment]
@@ -91,7 +91,13 @@ data:
     ;JWT_SECRET = 
 
     [mailer]
-    ENABLED = false
+    ENABLED        = false
+    FROM           = gitea@meissa-gmbh.de
+    MAILER_TYPE    = smtp
+    HOST           = mail.routing.net:587
+    IS_TLS_ENABLED = true
+    USER           = 
+    PASSWD         = 
 
     [openid]
     ENABLE_OPENID_SIGNIN = true
diff --git a/src/main/resources/gitea/deployment.yaml b/src/main/resources/gitea/deployment.yaml
index 8d9387c..b54a337 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/gitea/deployment.yaml
+++ b/src/main/resources/gitea/deployment.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ spec:
           envFrom:
             - configMapRef:
                 name: gitea-env
+            - secretRef:
+                name: gitea-secrets
           volumeMounts:
             - name: app-ini-config-volume
               mountPath: "/tmp/app.ini"
@@ -32,6 +34,8 @@ spec:
               mountPath: "/var/lib/gitea"
             - name: gitea-data-volume
               mountPath: "/data"
+            - name: gitea-secret-volume
+              mountPath: "/run/secrets"
           ports:
             - containerPort: 22
               name: git-ssh
@@ -47,3 +51,7 @@ spec:
         - name: gitea-data-volume
           persistentVolumeClaim:
             claimName: gitea-data-pvc
+        - name: gitea-secret-volume
+          secret: 
+            secretName: gitea-secrets
+          
diff --git a/src/main/resources/gitea/secrets.yaml b/src/main/resources/gitea/secrets.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ec9d9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/gitea/secrets.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: gitea-secrets
+data:
+    GITEA__mailer__USER: MAILERUSER
+    GITEA__mailer__PASSWD: MAILERPW
+  
\ No newline at end of file