diff --git a/.github/workflows/otbr-posix-dind.yml b/.github/workflows/otbr-posix-dind.yml
index f4e647e25..91f3fcec4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/otbr-posix-dind.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/otbr-posix-dind.yml
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Clone ot-br-posix and replace openthread submodule
       run: |
         OPENTHREAD_DIR=$(pwd)
-        ./script/git-tool clone https://github.com/openthread/ot-br-posix.git --depth 1 /tmp/ot-br-posix
+        ./script/git-tool clone https://github.com/openthread/ot-br-posix.git --depth 1 --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules /tmp/ot-br-posix
         cd /tmp/ot-br-posix
         rm -rf third_party/openthread/repo
         mkdir -p third_party/openthread/repo
diff --git a/script/git-tool b/script/git-tool
index 6698e3e11..0b9676895 100755
--- a/script/git-tool
+++ b/script/git-tool
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ try_clone()
         shift
         git clone "$@" 2>&1
     else
-        dest_dir="$(git clone "$@" 2>&1 | tee | cut -d\' -f2)"
+        dest_dir="$(LC_ALL=C git clone "$@" 2>&1 | tee /dev/stderr | sed -n "s/^Cloning into '\([^']*\)'.*/\1/p")"
+        dest_dir="${dest_dir%%$'\n'*}"
 
         cd "${dest_dir}"
         apply_dependencies
diff --git a/script/test b/script/test
index 5c0e09335..8adf3023e 100755
--- a/script/test
+++ b/script/test
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ do_build_otbr_docker()
 
     (
         if [[ -z ${LOCAL_OTBR_DIR} ]]; then
-            ./script/git-tool clone https://github.com/openthread/ot-br-posix.git --depth 1 "${otbrdir}"
+            ./script/git-tool clone https://github.com/openthread/ot-br-posix.git --depth 1 --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules "${otbrdir}"
         else
             rsync -r \
                 --exclude=third_party/openthread/repo \