diff --git a/scripts/Dockerfile.manager b/scripts/Dockerfile.manager
index 8e9e56e1a3..96782f0548 100644
--- a/scripts/Dockerfile.manager
+++ b/scripts/Dockerfile.manager
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ COPY ./.gitmodules /app/.gitmodules
 COPY . /app
 WORKDIR /app
 
+# make this folder into a git repository so we can install submodules
+RUN git init
 # Configure git to use the token
 RUN git config --global url."https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/".insteadOf "https://github.com/"
 
diff --git a/scripts/Dockerfile.server b/scripts/Dockerfile.server
index 385d96fc76..2036d7d76b 100644
--- a/scripts/Dockerfile.server
+++ b/scripts/Dockerfile.server
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ COPY ./.gitmodules /app/.gitmodules
 COPY . /app
 WORKDIR /app
 
+# make this folder into a git repository so we can install submodules
+RUN git init
 # Configure git to use the token
 RUN git config --global url."https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/".insteadOf "https://github.com/"
 
diff --git a/scripts/Dockerfile.worker b/scripts/Dockerfile.worker
index e49080a393..4d41855820 100644
--- a/scripts/Dockerfile.worker
+++ b/scripts/Dockerfile.worker
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ COPY ./.gitmodules /app/.gitmodules
 COPY . /app
 WORKDIR /app
 
+# make this folder into a git repository so we can install submodules
+RUN git init
+
 # Configure git to use the token
 RUN git config --global url."https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}@github.com/".insteadOf "https://github.com/"