diff --git a/.github/workflows/qmk_userspace_build.yml b/.github/workflows/qmk_userspace_build.yml
index 735e898c7ff..81b07a77924 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qmk_userspace_build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qmk_userspace_build.yml
@@ -30,21 +30,28 @@ jobs:
         path: userspace
         submodules: recursive
 
-    # This doesn't use actions/checkout as we want to allow qmk_firmware as a submodule
+    - name: Check qmk_firmware exists
+      id: check_files
+      uses: andstor/file-existence-action@v2
+      with:
+        files: userspace/qmk_firmware
+
     - name: Checkout QMK Firmware
-      run: |
-        if [ ! -d qmk_firmware ]; then
-          git clone -b ${{ inputs.qmk_ref || 'master' }} \
-            --depth=1000 --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules \
-            https://github.com/${{ inputs.qmk_repo || 'qmk/qmk_firmware' }}.git
-        fi
+      uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      if: steps.check_files.outputs.files_exists == 'false'
+      with:
+        path: userspace/qmk_firmware
+        repository: ${{ inputs.qmk_repo || 'qmk/qmk_firmware' }}
+        ref: ${{ inputs.qmk_ref || 'master' }}
+        submodules: recursive
+        fetch-depth: 1000 # This line should be removed once userspace support exists in QMK Firmware
 
     ########################################################
     ## Delete this section once userspace exists upstream ##
     ########################################################
     - name: Patch QMK Firmware with userspace support
       run: |
-        cd qmk_firmware
+        cd userspace/qmk_firmware
         git config --global user.email "nonexistent@email-address.invalid"
         git config --global user.name "QMK GitHub Actions User"
         git remote add qmk https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware.git
@@ -55,19 +62,19 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install QMK CLI
       run: |
         python3 -m pip install --upgrade qmk
-        python3 -m pip install -r qmk_firmware/requirements.txt
+        python3 -m pip install -r userspace/qmk_firmware/requirements.txt
 
     - name: Configure QMK CLI
       run: |
         qmk config mass_compile.parallel=$(nproc 2>/dev/null || sysctl -n hw.ncpu 2>/dev/null || getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN 2>/dev/null)
-        qmk config user.qmk_home=$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/qmk_firmware
+        qmk config user.qmk_home=$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/userspace/qmk_firmware
         qmk config user.overlay_dir=$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/userspace
 
     - name: Build
       run: |
         qmk mass-compile -e DUMP_CI_METADATA=yes -km ${{ github.repository_owner }} || touch .failed
         # Generate the step summary markdown
-        ./qmk_firmware/util/ci/generate_failure_markdown.sh > $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY || true
+        ./userspace/qmk_firmware/util/ci/generate_failure_markdown.sh > $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY || true
         # Truncate to a maximum of 1MB to deal with GitHub workflow limit
         truncate --size='<960K' $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY || true
         # Exit with failure if the compilation stage failed