diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-deb.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-deb.yaml
index 6bc07eb0c2..fa5bdd5ceb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-deb.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-deb.yaml
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout authd code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}
 
       - name: Build debian packages and sources
         uses: canonical/desktop-engineering/gh-actions/common/build-debian@main