diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index df48b4a7..d584678f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ jobs:
           username: ${{ github.actor }}
           password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
       
+      - name: Determine build args
+        run: |
+          date -u +"build_date=%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "vcs_ref=`git -C ./_modules/kitodo-production-docker rev-parse --short HEAD`" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      
       - name: Build the OCR-D Kitodo.Production image from module and deploy to GitHub Container Repository
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v3
         with:
@@ -37,8 +42,8 @@ jobs:
           push: true
           tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY_PATH }}/kitodo_production:latest
           build-args: |
-            BUILD_DATE=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
-            VCS_REF=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+            BUILD_DATE=${{ env.build_date }}
+            VCS_REF=${{ env.vcs_ref }}
             BUILDER_TYPE=git
             BUILDER_GIT_COMMIT=ocrd-main
             BUILDER_GIT_SOURCE_URL=https://github.com/markusweigelt/kitodo-production/