diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 5e0caeb33d1e33d5c03c8786b8de2463da5ae06a..86128d80cc1ab5b133c0a29bd72184b71fda289c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -27,12 +27,14 @@ deploy-dev:
     - curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.28.0/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
     - chmod +x ./kubectl
     - mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
-    # Set up kubeconfig
+    # Set up kubeconfig (for extracting auth details)
     - mkdir -p ~/.kube
     - echo $KUBE_CONFIG | base64 -d > ~/.kube/config
     - chmod 600 ~/.kube/config
-    # Deploy with explicit server and token - bypass kubeconfig entirely
-    - kubectl apply -f task-app/ --server=https://8.tcp.ngrok.io:12167 --insecure-skip-tls-verify
+    # Extract auth token if available
+    - export TOKEN=$(kubectl config view --minify -o jsonpath='{.users[0].user.token}')
+    # Try token-based auth if available
+    - if [ ! -z "$TOKEN" ]; then kubectl apply -f task-app/ --server=https://8.tcp.ngrok.io:12167 --insecure-skip-tls-verify --token=$TOKEN; else echo "No token found in config"; fi
   environment:
     name: development
   only: