diff --git a/.github/workflows/go.yml b/.github/workflows/go.yml
index 29664e59182b..f34c53d27728 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/go.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/go.yml
@@ -54,6 +54,12 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
+          k0sSortVersion=$(./vars.sh FROM=. k0s_sort_version)
+          mkdir -p build/cache/bin
+          curl -sSLo build/cache/bin/k0s_sort --retry 5 --retry-all-errors "https://github.com/k0sproject/version/releases/download/$k0sSortVersion/k0s_sort-linux-amd64"
+          chmod +x build/cache/bin/k0s_sort
+          export PATH="$(realpath build/cache/bin):$PATH"
+
           set -x
           k8sVersion="$(./vars.sh kubernetes_version)"
           majorVersion="${k8sVersion%%.*}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-docs.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-docs.yml
index ce6a756bec50..12ca18e162d6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-docs.yml
@@ -27,17 +27,16 @@ jobs:
           cache: pip
           cache-dependency-path: docs/requirements.txt
 
-      - name: Set up Go ${{ env.GO_VERSION }}
-        uses: actions/setup-go@v3
-        with:
-          go-version: ${{ env.GO_VERSION }}
-
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           pip install --disable-pip-version-check -r docs/requirements_pip.txt
           pip --version
           pip install --disable-pip-version-check -r docs/requirements.txt
-          go install github.com/k0sproject/version/cmd/k0s_sort@v0.4.2
+
+          mkdir -p build/cache/bin
+          curl -sSLo build/cache/bin/k0s_sort --retry 5 --retry-all-errors "https://github.com/k0sproject/version/releases/download/$K0S_SORT_VERSION/k0s_sort-linux-amd64"
+          chmod +x build/cache/bin/k0s_sort
+          printf '%s\n' "$(realpath build/cache/bin)" >>"$GITHUB_PATH"
 
       - name: Generate docs
         env:
diff --git a/hack/tools/gen-matrix.sh b/hack/tools/gen-matrix.sh
index 534fa4a159e8..95a09925dc3f 100755
--- a/hack/tools/gen-matrix.sh
+++ b/hack/tools/gen-matrix.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #  ./gen-matrix.sh 1.24.2 1.24.3
 # Output: ["v1.24.2+k0s.0", "v1.24.3+k0s.0"]
 
-set -e -o pipefail
+set -euo pipefail
 
 list_k0s_releases() {
   # shellcheck disable=SC2016
@@ -13,12 +13,8 @@ list_k0s_releases() {
   VERSION_PREFIX="v$1" gh api -X GET /repos/k0sproject/k0s/releases -F per_page=100 --paginate --jq "$query"
 }
 
-k0s_sort() {
-  go run github.com/k0sproject/version/cmd/k0s_sort@v0.4.2
-}
-
 latest_release() {
-  list_k0s_releases "$1" | k0s_sort | tail -1
+  list_k0s_releases "$1" | k0s_sort -l
 }
 
 json_print_latest_releases() {
diff --git a/hack/tools/run-autopilot-matrix-tests.sh b/hack/tools/run-autopilot-matrix-tests.sh
index 6060d52e454c..2c458e939ce7 100755
--- a/hack/tools/run-autopilot-matrix-tests.sh
+++ b/hack/tools/run-autopilot-matrix-tests.sh
@@ -10,11 +10,8 @@ TESTS=${1:-check-ap-ha3x3}
 VERSIONS="$2"
 ARCH=${TARGET_ARCH:-amd64}
 
-go install github.com/k0sproject/version/cmd/k0s_sort@v0.4.2
-GOBIN="$(go env GOPATH)/bin"
-
 if [[ -z "$VERSIONS" ]]; then
-  RELEASE=$(gh release list -L 100 -R k0sproject/k0s | grep "+k0s." | grep -v Draft | cut -f 1 | $GOBIN/k0s_sort | tail -1)
+  RELEASE=$(gh release list -L 100 -R k0sproject/k0s | grep "+k0s." | grep -v Draft | cut -f 1 | k0s_sort -l)
   VERSIONS=$RELEASE
 fi
 
diff --git a/vars.sh b/vars.sh
index 55db211e2e30..240a3158fbb8 100755
--- a/vars.sh
+++ b/vars.sh
@@ -54,8 +54,14 @@ done
 [ -n "$var" ] || fail Makefile variable not given
 [ -n "$from" ] || from=embedded-bins
 
-if [ "$var" = k0sctl_version ]; then
-  version_from_go_mod github.com/k0sproject/k0sctl <"$from"/go.mod
+case "$var" in
+k0sctl_version) pkg=github.com/k0sproject/k0sctl ;;
+k0s_sort_version) pkg=github.com/k0sproject/version ;;
+*) pkg='' ;;
+esac
+
+if [ -n "$pkg" ]; then
+  version_from_go_mod "$pkg" <"$from"/go.mod
   exit 0
 fi