diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-reproducibility.yml b/.github/workflows/check-reproducibility.yml
index 36f7780179..964178fbcd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-reproducibility.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-reproducibility.yml
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ jobs:
     - name: Clean caches & workspace
       run: make clean
     - run: echo "LOGURU_COLORIZE=NO" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+    - name: Build
+      run: cd src/scripts/merge_tools/merging && ./gradlew -q shadowJar
     - name: make check-merges-reproducibility
       run: |
-        git config --global user.email "example@example.com"
-        git config --global user.name "Example Example"
         head -n 151 results/combined/result.csv > temp.csv && mv temp.csv results/combined/result.csv
         make check-merges-reproducibility
       env:
diff --git a/src/python/replay_merge.py b/src/python/replay_merge.py
index e825941544..77027c3837 100755
--- a/src/python/replay_merge.py
+++ b/src/python/replay_merge.py
@@ -307,7 +307,8 @@ def merge_replay(
         os.getcwd(), "src/scripts/merge_tools"
     )
     os.environ["GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL"] = os.getcwd() + "/.gitconfig"
-    os.system("cd src/scripts/merge_tools/merging && ./gradlew -q shadowJar")
+    if not args.skip_build:
+        os.system("cd src/scripts/merge_tools/merging && ./gradlew -q shadowJar")
     os.system("git submodule update --init")
 
     df = pd.read_csv(args.merges_csv, index_col="idx")