diff --git a/.github/workflows/pytest-coverage.yml b/.github/workflows/pytest-coverage.yml
index 7eba155..400e2f5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pytest-coverage.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pytest-coverage.yml
@@ -10,10 +10,19 @@ jobs:
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
         steps:
-            - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-              with:
-                  submodules: "recursive"
-                  token: ${{ secrets.SUBMODULE_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+            - uses: actions/checkout@v4 # without submodules
+
+            - name: disable the keychain credential helper
+              run: git config --global credential.helper ""
+
+            - name: enable the local store credential helper
+              run: git config --global --add credential.helper store
+
+            - name: add credential
+              run: echo "https://x-access-token:${{ secrets.SUBMODULE_GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com" >> ~/.git-credentials
+
+            - name: tell git to use https instead of ssh whenever it encounters it
+              run: 'git config --global url."https://github.com/".insteadof git@github.com:'
 
             - name: Set up Python
               uses: actions/setup-python@v4