diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e.yml
index cc0ceb2c..6a03fb93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ jobs:
       # the soroban CLI & RPC source code to compile and run from system test
       # refers to checked out source of current git hub ref context
       SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_CLI_REF: https://github.com/stellar/soroban-tools.git\#main
-      SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_RPC_REF: https://github.com/stellar/soroban-rpc.git\#main
+      SYSTEM_TEST_SOROBAN_RPC_REF: ${{ github.workspace }}/soroban-rpc
 
       # core git ref should be latest commit for stable soroban functionality
       # the core bin can either be compiled in-line here as part of ci,