diff --git a/.changeset/six-pandas-yawn.md b/.changeset/six-pandas-yawn.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0f4665f7c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/six-pandas-yawn.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/backend-defaults': patch
+---
+
+Fix gitlabUrlReader issue with retrieving the repository archive tree
diff --git a/.patches/pr-34415.txt b/.patches/pr-34415.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b728afdcff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.patches/pr-34415.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix 406 response for repository/archive retrieval in gitlabUrlReader
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/urlReader/lib/GitlabUrlReader.ts b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/urlReader/lib/GitlabUrlReader.ts
index 23a39003b6..81c493dd46 100644
--- a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/urlReader/lib/GitlabUrlReader.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/urlReader/lib/GitlabUrlReader.ts
@@ -211,6 +211,10 @@ export class GitlabUrlReader implements UrlReaderService {
     )}/repository/archive?${archiveReqParams.toString()}`;
     const archiveGitLabResponse = await this.integration.fetch(reqUrl, {
       ...getGitLabRequestOptions(this.integration.config, token),
+      // The mode is set to 'same-origin' to overwrite the default 'cors' value.
+      // The repository/archive endpoint marks mode='cors' as a "hotlink" which will return 406 - Not Acceptable as a response
+      // More info on this issue can be found @ https://github.com/backstage/backstage/issues/34395
+      mode: 'same-origin',
       // TODO(freben): The signal cast is there because pre-3.x versions of
       // node-fetch have a very slightly deviating AbortSignal type signature.
       // The difference does not affect us in practice however. The cast can