diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index cd887a765560d2b3c76462d3d8b859acd5bc895e..58cdbf5fde906f05766c0fe9a1dfff07115f3bcd 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ build_libmesh_job:
     GIT_STRATEGY: clone
     MOOSE_JOBS: 32
   script:
-    - pwd
-    - git clone -b master https://github.com/idaholab/moose.git
+    - git submodule init moose
+    - git submodule update moose
     - cd moose 
     - scripts/update_and_rebuild_libmesh.sh
 
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..66e1696d8132d090e178ae489f4682112683e19c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[submodule "moose"]
+	path = moose
+	url = git@github.com:idaholab/moose.git
+	branch = master
diff --git a/moose b/moose
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3f9100c970e76bac67fff095728c127f4a16e5ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/moose
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 3f9100c970e76bac67fff095728c127f4a16e5ab