diff --git a/values.yaml b/values.yaml
index 8b22d90..92911ce 100644
--- a/values.yaml
+++ b/values.yaml
@@ -53,6 +53,13 @@ applications:
         selfHeal: true
       syncOptions:
         - CreateNamespace=true
+        # The SecretStore/ClusterSecretStore CRDs embed a very large OpenAPI
+        # schema; a plain `kubectl apply` stores the full manifest in the
+        # `kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration` annotation,
+        # which exceeds Kubernetes' 262144 byte annotation limit and fails
+        # with "metadata.annotations: Too long". Server-side apply avoids
+        # writing that annotation entirely.
+        - ServerSideApply=true
 
   # OpenBao secret management backend + its ClusterSecretStore binding for ESO.
   - name: openbao