diff --git a/action.yaml b/action.yaml
index 090643d..48fa01e 100644
--- a/action.yaml
+++ b/action.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ inputs:
     default: ${{ forgejo.token }}
   subpath:
     description: Limit clone to a single directory inside the repo
-
+  submodules:
+    description: Whether to checkout submodules (true|recursive)
+    default: false
 runs:
   using: composite
   steps:
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 46737d4..0889105 100755
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ git remote add origin "$URL"
 git fetch --no-tags --prune --no-recurse-submodules --depth=1 origin "$GITHUB_SHA"
 git checkout --progress --force -B main "$GITHUB_SHA"
 
+if [ "$INPUT_SUBMODULES" = true ]; then
+    git submodule update --init --single-branch
+elif [ "$INPUT_SUBMODULES" = recursive ]; then
+    git submodule update --init --single-branch --recursive
+fi
+
 if [ -n "$INPUT_SUBPATH" ]; then (
     shopt -s dotglob
     git sparse-checkout set "$INPUT_SUBPATH"