diff --git a/models/actions/runner.go b/models/actions/runner.go
index d50d0946aa..9ddf346aa6 100644
--- a/models/actions/runner.go
+++ b/models/actions/runner.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ type ActionRunner struct {
 	// Store labels defined in state file (default: .runner file) of `act_runner`
 	AgentLabels []string `xorm:"TEXT"`
 	// Store if this is a runner that only ever get one single job assigned
-	Ephemeral bool `xorm:"ephemeral"`
+	Ephemeral bool `xorm:"ephemeral NOT NULL DEFAULT false"`
 
 	Created timeutil.TimeStamp `xorm:"created"`
 	Updated timeutil.TimeStamp `xorm:"updated"`
diff --git a/models/migrations/v1_24/v315.go b/models/migrations/v1_24/v315.go
index 52003c5dae..aefb872d0f 100644
--- a/models/migrations/v1_24/v315.go
+++ b/models/migrations/v1_24/v315.go
@@ -9,14 +9,8 @@ import (
 
 func AddEphemeralToActionRunner(x *xorm.Engine) error {
 	type ActionRunner struct {
-		Ephemeral bool `xorm:"ephemeral"`
+		Ephemeral bool `xorm:"ephemeral NOT NULL DEFAULT false"`
 	}
 
-	if err := x.Sync(new(ActionRunner)); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	// update all records to set ephemeral to false
-	_, err := x.Exec("UPDATE `action_runner` SET `ephemeral` = false WHERE `ephemeral` IS NULL")
-	return err
+	return x.Sync(new(ActionRunner))
 }