If your repository includes a .gitmodules file, Codeship will automatically initialize and update the configured submodules. The following command is run after cloning your repository to do this.
Right now there is not a way to skip this command, but let us know if that creates a problem for your build.
Submodules that are hosted as public repositories should just work, but let us know if you see any issues.
If your submodule is a private repository you need to make sure Codeship can clone the repository.
Make sure the project’s public SSH key (from the General settings page) has access to the submodule repository. See how to provide access to other repositories if you’re not sure how to achieve this.
Make sure the submodule is referenced via a SSH based URL (e.g. git@github.com:codeship/documentation.git). If you reference the submodule via a HTTPS based URL (e.g. https://github.com/codeship/documentation.git), the git client will ask for authentication credentials during the build and run into a timeout (as you can’t provide them).
See the git documentation on Git Submodules for more information on working with submodules.
See how to provide access to other repositories if you see an error like these.