diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 82e1894..84e9bfc 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,14 +4,17 @@ stages:
   - release
 
 
-# Notes; we want short labes so we can see what is what, and
-# allow image builds on all branches because don't wan to
-# deal with them on the master branch
 Images:
   stage: images
   when: manual
   image: registry.gitlab.com/librewolf-community/browser/bsys5/dind
   tags: [autoscale]
+  # checkout our submodules
+  variables:
+    GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive
+  before_script:
+    - git submodule sync
+    - git submodule update --init --recursive
   parallel:
     matrix:
       - DISTRO:
@@ -31,6 +34,7 @@ Images:
     - make docker-$DISTRO
     - docker push registry.gitlab.com/librewolf-community/browser/bsys5/$DISTRO:latest
 
+
 Build:
   stage: build
   when: manual
@@ -80,6 +84,7 @@ Build:
     reports:
       dotenv: variables.env
 
+
 Release:
   stage: release
   when: manual