diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/migration/1750344728596-FixCollationMismatch.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/migration/1750344728596-FixCollationMismatch.ts
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/migration/1750344728596-FixCollationMismatch.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2025 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+ * Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+ * See License.AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+ */
+
+import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from "typeorm";
+
+export class FixCollationMismatch1750344728596 implements MigrationInterface {
+    public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+        const versionRow = await queryRunner.query(`SELECT VERSION() as version`);
+        const version = versionRow[0].version;
+
+        // MySQL docs: https://dev.mysql.com/blog-archive/mysql-8-0-collations-migrating-from-older-collations/
+        // 5.7 default: utf8mb4_general_ci
+        // 8.0 default: utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci
+        let collation: string;
+        if (version.startsWith("5.7")) {
+            collation = "utf8mb4_general_ci";
+        } else {
+            // Assume MySQL 8.0+ for all other versions
+            collation = "utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci";
+        }
+
+        const dbNameRow = await queryRunner.query(`SELECT DATABASE() as dbName`);
+        const dbName = dbNameRow[0].dbName;
+
+        await queryRunner.query(`ALTER DATABASE ${dbName} CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE ${collation};`);
+
+        await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TABLE d_b_org_env_var DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE ${collation};`);
+        await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TABLE d_b_org_env_var CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE ${collation};`);
+
+        await queryRunner.query(
+            `ALTER TABLE d_b_workspace_instance_metrics DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE ${collation};`,
+        );
+        await queryRunner.query(
+            `ALTER TABLE d_b_workspace_instance_metrics CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE ${collation};`,
+        );
+    }
+
+    public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+        // This migration is not reversible as it changes the database collation.
+    }
+}