diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7fa63f8f05..a9bbd60bf6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 include Makefile.build.mk
-CURRENT_USER := $(shell id -u -n)
+CURRENT_USER := $(if $(GITHUB_USER),$(GITHUB_USER),$(shell id -u -n))
 MINIO_TAG ?= 0.20231101.183725-r1
 RQLITE_TAG ?= 8.13.5-r0
 DEX_TAG ?= 2.37.0-r12
diff --git a/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/expected/test.mk b/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/expected/test.mk
index bee96aacc7..e322f01efc 100644
--- a/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/expected/test.mk
+++ b/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/expected/test.mk
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-CURRENT_USER := $(shell id -u -n)
+CURRENT_USER := $(if $(GITHUB_USER),$(GITHUB_USER),$(shell id -u -n))
 SCHEMAHERO_TAG ?= 0.13.2
 
 .PHONY: test
diff --git a/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/input/test.mk b/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/input/test.mk
index 1110517176..d918e5f594 100644
--- a/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/input/test.mk
+++ b/cmd/imagedeps/testdata/schemahero/replacers/input/test.mk
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-CURRENT_USER := $(shell id -u -n)
+CURRENT_USER := $(if $(GITHUB_USER),$(GITHUB_USER),$(shell id -u -n))
 SCHEMAHERO_TAG ?= 0.13.1
 
 .PHONY: test
diff --git a/deploy/kurl/kotsadm/hack/Makefile b/deploy/kurl/kotsadm/hack/Makefile
index a2c9bb7766..148a4864f7 100644
--- a/deploy/kurl/kotsadm/hack/Makefile
+++ b/deploy/kurl/kotsadm/hack/Makefile
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ generate:
 	DEX_TAG=$(shell source ../../../../.image.env && echo "$$DEX_TAG") \
 		${MAKE} _generate
 	
-_generate: CURRENT_USER = $(shell id -u -n)
+_generate: CURRENT_USER = $(if $(GITHUB_USER),$(GITHUB_USER),$(shell id -u -n))
 _generate: generate-tag
 	@cd ../template && ./generate.sh $(KOTS_VERSION) ttl.sh $(CURRENT_USER) 24h $(shell realpath ../../../../bin/kots)
 	@rm -rf kurl/addons/kotsadm/$(KOTS_VERSION)
diff --git a/hack/build-ttl.sh b/hack/build-ttl.sh
index 7d2aafe493..c06fb70840 100755
--- a/hack/build-ttl.sh
+++ b/hack/build-ttl.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-export CURRENT_USER=`id -u -n`
+export CURRENT_USER=${GITHUB_USER:-$(id -u -n)}
 
 make build-ttl.sh
 
diff --git a/kurl_proxy/Makefile b/kurl_proxy/Makefile
index 1b5e7ee31a..e0203d8b49 100644
--- a/kurl_proxy/Makefile
+++ b/kurl_proxy/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 include ./Makefile.build
-CURRENT_USER := $(shell id -u -n)
+
+CURRENT_USER := $(if $(GITHUB_USER),$(GITHUB_USER),$(shell id -u -n))
 
 .PHONY: test
 test:
diff --git a/migrations/build-ttl.sh b/migrations/build-ttl.sh
index 32a9769e95..8f9daea0f5 100755
--- a/migrations/build-ttl.sh
+++ b/migrations/build-ttl.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-CURRENT_USER=`id -u -n`
+CURRENT_USER=${GITHUB_USER:-$(id -u -n)}
 IMAGE=ttl.sh/${CURRENT_USER}/kotsadm-migrations:24h
 
 docker build -f deploy/Dockerfile -t ${IMAGE} .