diff --git a/components/ws-manager-api/go/crd/v1/workspace_types.go b/components/ws-manager-api/go/crd/v1/workspace_types.go
index 5ca6cb8b27afea..57fac4962d0d30 100644
--- a/components/ws-manager-api/go/crd/v1/workspace_types.go
+++ b/components/ws-manager-api/go/crd/v1/workspace_types.go
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ type GitSpec struct {
 }
 
 type TimeoutSpec struct {
+	// +kubebuilder:validation:Type=string
+	// +kubebuilder:validation:Pattern="^([0-9]+(\\.[0-9]+)?(ms|s|m|h))+$"
 	Time *metav1.Duration `json:"time,omitempty"`
 }
 
diff --git a/components/ws-manager-mk2/config/crd/bases/workspace.gitpod.io_workspaces.yaml b/components/ws-manager-mk2/config/crd/bases/workspace.gitpod.io_workspaces.yaml
index 2fd8bf2bf6a37e..c35e4f68f24e44 100644
--- a/components/ws-manager-mk2/config/crd/bases/workspace.gitpod.io_workspaces.yaml
+++ b/components/ws-manager-mk2/config/crd/bases/workspace.gitpod.io_workspaces.yaml
@@ -262,6 +262,7 @@ spec:
               timeout:
                 properties:
                   time:
+                    pattern: ^([0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?(ms|s|m|h))+$
                     type: string
                 type: object
               type: