diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index db9db7d001..466a609125 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -105,8 +105,15 @@ checkupdates_runner:
     - touch config.py
     - git config --global user.email "fdroidci@bubu1.eu"
     - git config --global user.name "F-Droid checkupdates bot"
-    - url_host=`git remote get-url origin | sed -e "s/https:\/\/gitlab-ci-token:.*@//g"`
-    - git remote set-url origin "https://gitlab-ci-token:${CI_GIT_PUSH_TOKEN}@${url_host}"
+    - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
+    - chmod 700 ~/.ssh
+    - cp "${GITLAB_KNOWN_HOSTS}" ~/.ssh/known_hosts
+    - chmod 644 ~/.ssh/known_hosts
+    - eval $(ssh-agent -s)
+    - echo "${CHECKUPDATES_SSH_DEPLOY_KEY}" | tr -d '\r' | ssh-add -
+    - url_host=$(echo "${CI_REPOSITORY_URL}" | sed -e 's|https\?://gitlab-ci-token:.*@|ssh://git@|g')
+    - echo "${url_host}"
+    - git remote set-url --push origin "${url_host}"
   script:
     - fdroid checkupdates --allow-dirty --auto --commit ${CHECKUPDATES_APPIDS}
     - git pull --rebase origin master