diff --git a/scripts/container-entrypoint.sh b/scripts/container-entrypoint.sh
index 0a06ef4..336248d 100755
--- a/scripts/container-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/scripts/container-entrypoint.sh
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ check_headscale_environment_vars() {
 	check_env_var_or_set_default "MAGIC_DNS" "${headscale_magic_dns_default}" "^(true|false)$" "Invalid 'MAGIC_DNS'. Must be 'true' or 'false'."
 	require_env_var "PUBLIC_SERVER_URL"
 	require_env_var "HEADSCALE_DNS_BASE_DOMAIN"
+	check_env_var_or_set_default "EPHEMERAL_NODE_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT" "${headscale_ephemeral_node_inactivity_timeout_default}" "^[0-9]+[smhd]([0-9]+[smhd])*$" "Invalid 'EPHEMERAL_NODE_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT'. Must be a valid duration (e.g., '30m', '1h', '90s')."
 }
 
 #######################################
@@ -418,6 +419,7 @@ check_config_files() {
 		"MAGIC_DNS"
 		"IP_ALLOCATION"
 		"HEADSCALE_EXTRA_RECORDS_PATH"
+		"EPHEMERAL_NODE_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT"
 	)
 	for var in "${template_vars[@]}"; do
 		export "${var}=${!var}"
@@ -443,6 +445,7 @@ display_configuration_summary() {
 	log_info "Tailnet Base Domain: ${HEADSCALE_DNS_BASE_DOMAIN}"
 	log_info "Public Listening Port: ${PUBLIC_LISTEN_PORT}"
 	log_info "GOMAXPROCS: ${GOMAXPROCS}"
+	log_info "Ephemeral Node Inactivity Timeout: ${EPHEMERAL_NODE_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT}"
 
 	log_feature_status "HTTPS Mode" "${https_enabled}" "" "warn"
 	log_feature_status "Litestream" "${litestream_enabled}" "${LITESTREAM_REPLICA_URL}" "warn"
diff --git a/scripts/defaults.sh b/scripts/defaults.sh
index 5cfc21e..8dd9fdc 100644
--- a/scripts/defaults.sh
+++ b/scripts/defaults.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 # shellcheck disable=SC2034 # This is a defaults file
 public_listen_port_default=443
 
+headscale_ephemeral_node_inactivity_timeout_default="30m"
 headscale_extra_records_path_default="/data/headscale/extra-records.json"
 headscale_magic_dns_default="true"
 headscale_ipv6_only_default="false"
diff --git a/templates/headscale.template.yaml b/templates/headscale.template.yaml
index 96c8393..b92d681 100644
--- a/templates/headscale.template.yaml
+++ b/templates/headscale.template.yaml
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ derp:
 disable_check_updates: true
 
 # Time before an inactive ephemeral node is deleted?
-ephemeral_node_inactivity_timeout: 30m
+ephemeral_node_inactivity_timeout: $EPHEMERAL_NODE_INACTIVITY_TIMEOUT
 
 database:
   # Database type. Available options: sqlite, postgres