diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
index 51eb48b..e002da9 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@ jobs:
         os: [macos, windows, linux]
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          # setuptools_scm needs full history/tags to compute the version
-          fetch-depth: 0
+      # Plain git clone instead of actions/checkout (a JS action that would
+      # require node on the host). Full history so setuptools_scm sees tags.
+      - name: Checkout
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          git clone "$GITHUB_SERVER_URL/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY.git" .
+          git checkout -f "$GITHUB_SHA"
 
       - name: Build GUI app zip and dist packages
         run: uv run --extra gui scripts/guibuild.py