diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 5dbdf17ce4..2682b18a58 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ RUN mkdir -p ${PUDL_INPUT} ${PUDL_OUTPUT} ${DAGSTER_HOME} ${PUDL_REPO}
 # Copy dagster configuration file
 COPY docker/dagster.yaml ${DAGSTER_HOME}/dagster.yaml
 
-# Copy the cloned pudl repository into the user's home directory
+# Copy the cloned pudl repository into the container
+# This includes the .git directory, so it is a whole repo
 COPY --chown=${MAMBA_USER}:${MAMBA_USER} . ${PUDL_REPO}
 
 # Create a conda environment based on the specification in the repo
@@ -60,6 +61,5 @@ RUN ${CONDA_RUN} bash -c 'curl -L https://fly.io/install.sh | sh'
 ENV PATH="${CONTAINER_HOME}/.fly/bin:$PATH"
 
 WORKDIR ${PUDL_REPO}
-RUN git config -l
 # Run the unit tests:
 CMD ["micromamba", "run", "--prefix", "${CONDA_PREFIX}", "--attach", "''", "pytest", "test/unit"]
diff --git a/docker/gcp_pudl_etl.sh b/docker/gcp_pudl_etl.sh
index df4b587b64..6d5aabcd5e 100644
--- a/docker/gcp_pudl_etl.sh
+++ b/docker/gcp_pudl_etl.sh
@@ -48,16 +48,12 @@ function run_pudl_etl() {
 }
 
 function shutdown_vm() {
-    # Copy the outputs to the GCS bucket
-
     upload_file_to_slack $LOGFILE "pudl_etl logs for $ACTION_SHA-$GITHUB_REF:"
-
+    # Shut down the vm instance when the etl is done.
     echo "Shutting down VM."
-    # # Shut down the vm instance when the etl is done.
     ACCESS_TOKEN=`curl \
         "http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token" \
         -H "Metadata-Flavor: Google" | jq -r '.access_token'`
-
     curl -X POST -H "Content-Length: 0" -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/catalyst-cooperative-pudl/zones/$GCE_INSTANCE_ZONE/instances/$GCE_INSTANCE/stop
 }
 
@@ -102,6 +98,14 @@ function notify_slack() {
     send_slack_msg "$message"
 }
 
+if [ $GITHUB_ACTION_TRIGGER = "workflow_dispatch" ]; then
+    git config user.email "pudl@catalyst.coop"
+    git config user.name "pudlbot"
+    git remote set-url origin https://pudlbot:$PUDL_BOT_PAT@github.com/catalyst-cooperative/pudl.git
+    git tag -a -m "Nightly test tag" nightly-tag-test
+    git push origin nightly-tag-test
+    shutdown_vm
+
 # # Run ETL. Copy outputs to GCS and shutdown VM if ETL succeeds or fails
 # 2>&1 redirects stderr to stdout.
 run_pudl_etl 2>&1 | tee $LOGFILE
@@ -116,6 +120,7 @@ if [[ $ETL_SUCCESS == 0 ]]; then
         # Update the nightly branch to point at newly successful nightly build tag
         git config user.email "pudl@catalyst.coop"
         git config user.name "pudlbot"
+        git remote set-url origin https://pudlbot:$PUDL_BOT_PAT@github.com/catalyst-cooperative/pudl.git
         git checkout nightly
         git merge --ff-only $NIGHTLY_TAG
         git push