diff --git a/bootstrap/applicationset.yaml b/bootstrap/applicationset.yaml
index 28e3b3d..c8265c0 100644
--- a/bootstrap/applicationset.yaml
+++ b/bootstrap/applicationset.yaml
@@ -60,3 +60,6 @@ spec:
           - CreateNamespace=true
           # CRD schemas are large; SSA avoids the last-applied-config annotation limit.
           - ServerSideApply=true
+          # Use server-side dry-run for diff computation to bypass CRD schema
+          # validation errors on fields marked x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields.
+          - ServerSideDiff=true