diff --git a/.github/workflows/jekyll-gh-pages.yml b/.github/workflows/jekyll-gh-pages.yml
index f016ce70..69ddfb18 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/jekyll-gh-pages.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/jekyll-gh-pages.yml
@@ -32,9 +32,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          submodules: true
-          lfs: true
+      - name: Fetch parachain chainspecs
+        run: ./scripts/fetch-chainspecs.sh
       - name: Download Paseo chainspecs
         run: |
           wget --directory-prefix=downloads/paseo-chain-specs --input-file=paseo/urls.txt
diff --git a/.github/workflows/jekyll-test.yml b/.github/workflows/jekyll-test.yml
index f59a74f1..0490342c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/jekyll-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/jekyll-test.yml
@@ -13,9 +13,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - name: Checkout repository
       uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      with:
-        submodules: true
-        lfs: true
+    - name: Fetch parachain chainspecs
+      run: ./scripts/fetch-chainspecs.sh
     - name: Download Paseo chainspecs
       run: |
         wget --directory-prefix=downloads/paseo-chain-specs --input-file=paseo/urls.txt
diff --git a/.github/workflows/submodules-link-check.yml b/.github/workflows/submodules-link-check.yml
index 2772762e..b82aff65 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/submodules-link-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/submodules-link-check.yml
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
-        with:
-          submodules: true
+      - name: Fetch parachain chainspecs
+        run: ./scripts/fetch-chainspecs.sh
       - name: Download Paseo chainspecs
         run: |
           wget --directory-prefix=downloads/paseo-chain-specs --input-file=paseo/urls.txt
diff --git a/scripts/fetch-chainspecs.sh b/scripts/fetch-chainspecs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..904a950e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/fetch-chainspecs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Fetch only the chainspec files referenced by the repo's symlinks, instead of
+# cloning entire upstream repositories as git submodules.
+#
+# Every `chainspec.json` symlink points at submodules/<name>/<path-in-repo>.
+# For each one we resolve:
+#   - the upstream repo URL  -> from .gitmodules
+#   - the pinned commit SHA  -> from the gitlink stored in HEAD's tree
+# and download just that single file from raw.githubusercontent.com into the
+# location the symlink expects, so the symlink resolves and Jekyll can serve it.
+#
+# Using the pinned SHA (not a branch) reproduces the exact bytes the submodule
+# would have provided, including specs that upstream has since moved or removed.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+# submodule path -> "owner/repo"
+declare -A REPO_SLUG
+while read -r key url; do
+  path="${key#submodule.}"; path="${path%.url}"
+  slug="${url#https://github.com/}"; slug="${slug%.git}"
+  REPO_SLUG["$path"]="$slug"
+done < <(git config -f .gitmodules --get-regexp '^submodule\..*\.url$')
+
+# submodule path -> pinned commit SHA (gitlink in the committed tree)
+declare -A REPO_SHA
+while read -r _mode _type sha path; do
+  REPO_SHA["$path"]="$sha"
+done < <(git ls-tree HEAD submodules/)
+
+# Build the fetch list: "<destination>\t<raw-url>", one per referenced symlink.
+fetch_list="$(mktemp)"
+trap 'rm -f "$fetch_list"' EXIT
+
+while IFS= read -r link; do
+  target="$(readlink "$link")"
+  dest="$(realpath -m --relative-to="$PWD" "$(dirname "$link")/$target")"
+  [[ "$dest" == submodules/* ]] || continue
+
+  rest="${dest#submodules/}"
+  name="${rest%%/*}"           # e.g. acala
+  inpath="${rest#*/}"          # e.g. resources/acala-dist.json
+  sub="submodules/$name"
+
+  slug="${REPO_SLUG[$sub]:-}"
+  sha="${REPO_SHA[$sub]:-}"
+  if [[ -z "$slug" || -z "$sha" ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: no repo/SHA mapping for $sub (referenced by $link)" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
+  printf '%s\t%s\n' "$dest" "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/$slug/$sha/$inpath" >> "$fetch_list"
+done < <(find . -type l -not -path './.git/*' -not -path './submodules/*' | sort)
+
+# De-duplicate (several symlinks can share one upstream file).
+sort -u -o "$fetch_list" "$fetch_list"
+
+count="$(wc -l < "$fetch_list")"
+echo "Fetching $count chainspec files (no submodule clone)..."
+
+# Download in parallel; --fail makes any HTTP error a non-zero exit.
+fetch_one() {
+  local dest="$1" url="$2"
+  curl --fail --silent --show-error --location \
+       --retry 3 --retry-delay 2 --connect-timeout 30 \
+       --create-dirs -o "$dest" "$url" \
+    && echo "  ok  $dest" \
+    || { echo "  FAIL $dest  <-  $url" >&2; return 1; }
+}
+export -f fetch_one
+
+if ! xargs -P 16 -d '\n' -a "$fetch_list" -I{} \
+       bash -c 'IFS=$'"'"'\t'"'"' read -r d u <<< "{}"; fetch_one "$d" "$u"'; then
+  echo "One or more chainspecs failed to download." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Done: $count files fetched."