diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 71443114..a15ad463 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -141,8 +141,11 @@ vm-reset:
 
 # checkout Cockpit's bots for standard test VM images and API to launch them
 # must be from master, as only that has current and existing images; but testvm.py API is stable
+# support CI testing against a bots change
 bots:
-	git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/cockpit-project/bots.git
+	git clone --quiet --reference-if-able $${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$$HOME/.cache}/cockpit-project/bots https://github.com/cockpit-project/bots.git
+	if [ -n "$$COCKPIT_BOTS_REF" ]; then git -C bots fetch --quiet --depth=1 origin "$$COCKPIT_BOTS_REF"; git -C bots checkout --quiet FETCH_HEAD; fi
+	@echo "checked out bots/ ref $$(git -C bots rev-parse HEAD)"
 
 .PHONY: all install check test clean tag docs archive local