diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/site.yml b/.gitea/workflows/site.yml
index 4fa6394..e4f2e5f 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/site.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/site.yml
@@ -15,11 +15,13 @@ jobs:
     container:
       image: node:22-alpine
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
+      # git before checkout: without the binary checkout silently falls back
+      # to an archive download and the workspace has no .git to diff against
       - name: install git
         run: apk add --no-cache git
 
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
       - run: npm ci --no-audit --no-fund
       - run: npm run build