diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy_aws.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy_aws.yml
index 6880345..95963e8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy_aws.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy_aws.yml
@@ -43,10 +43,13 @@ jobs:
         ssh-keyscan -v -H ${{ secrets.EC2_HOST }} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts || echo "ssh-keyscan failed, continuing..."
 
     - name: Deploy to AWS EC2
+      env:
+        EC2_USER: ${{ secrets.EC2_USER }}
+        EC2_HOST: ${{ secrets.EC2_HOST }}
       run: |
-        ssh ${{ secrets.EC2_USER }}@${{ secrets.EC2_HOST }} "sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/jupyterbook_8040/ && sudo chown -R ${{ secrets.EC2_USER }} /var/www/html/jupyterbook_8040/"
-        scp -r docs/_build/html/* ${{ secrets.EC2_USER }}@${{ secrets.EC2_HOST }}:/var/www/html/jupyterbook_8040/
-        ssh ${{ secrets.EC2_USER }}@${{ secrets.EC2_HOST }} "sudo systemctl restart apache2 || sudo systemctl restart nginx && sudo sed -i 's/Listen 80/Listen 8040/' /etc/apache2/ports.conf && sudo systemctl restart apache2"
+        ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${EC2_USER}@${EC2_HOST} "sudo mkdir -p /var/www/html/jupyterbook_8040/ && sudo chown -R ${EC2_USER}:${EC2_USER} /var/www/html/jupyterbook_8040/"
+        scp -r -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no docs/_build/html/* ${EC2_USER}@${EC2_HOST}:/var/www/html/jupyterbook_8040/
+        ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${EC2_USER}@${EC2_HOST} "sudo systemctl restart apache2 || sudo systemctl restart nginx && sudo sed -i 's/Listen 80/Listen 8040/' /etc/apache2/ports.conf && sudo systemctl restart apache2"
 
     - name: Cleanup SSH key
       run: rm -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa