diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/forgejo-sh.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/forgejo-sh.yml
index 7fecb0d..b18b4b4 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/forgejo-sh.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/forgejo-sh.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: self-hosted
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          submodules: 'true'
       - run: |
           set -x
           ./forgejo-dependencies.sh install_docker
diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/integration.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/integration.yml
index fc0e253..c751d55 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/integration.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/integration.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: self-hosted
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          submodules: 'true'
       - run: |
           set -x
           LXC_IP_PREFIX=10.0.9 ./forgejo-dependencies.sh
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a45ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "lxc-helpers"]
+	path = lxc-helpers
+	url = https://code.forgejo.org/forgejo/lxc-helpers
diff --git a/forgejo-test-helper.sh b/forgejo-test-helper.sh
index a0bdc29..50f8b2a 100755
--- a/forgejo-test-helper.sh
+++ b/forgejo-test-helper.sh
@@ -138,10 +138,10 @@ function push_self_action() {
     local tag="$4"
 
     local dir="$DIR/self"
-    git clone . $dir
+    git clone --recurse-submodules . $dir
     (
 	cd $dir
-	rm -fr .forgejo .git
+	rm -fr .forgejo .git lxc-helpers/.git
 	git init
 	git checkout -b main
 	git remote add origin "$url/$owner/$self_action"
diff --git a/lxc-helpers b/lxc-helpers
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..0e3a7b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lxc-helpers
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 0e3a7b3f4835b45cc3758f974f09819c923b2398
diff --git a/testdata/sanity-checks/.forgejo/workflows/test.yml b/testdata/sanity-checks/.forgejo/workflows/test.yml
index f09e670..a648dcb 100644
--- a/testdata/sanity-checks/.forgejo/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/testdata/sanity-checks/.forgejo/workflows/test.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ jobs:
           echo +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
           echo about to actions/checkout@v3 for SELF@vTest
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          submodules: 'true'
       - id: forgejo
         uses: SELF@vTest
         with: