diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index dbbe008..5d745d9 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 FROM node:25-alpine3.23@sha256:636c5bc8fa6a7a542bc99f25367777b0b3dd0db7d1ca3959d14137a1ac80bde2
-RUN apk add --no-cache bash>5.0.16-r0 git>2.26.0-r0 curl
+RUN apk add --no-cache bash>5.0.16-r0 git>2.26.0-r0 curl jq
 COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
 RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
 ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 6a6f3e2..080b253 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -55,5 +55,3 @@ runs:
     - ${{ inputs.base-branch }}
     - ${{ inputs.file-extension }}
     - ${{ inputs.file-path }}
-  env:
-    REPO_PRIVATE: ${{ github.event.repository.private }}
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 71d5c29..4dc12bd 100644
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ UPSTREAM="gaurav-nelson/github-action-markdown-link-check"
 ACTION_REPO="${GITHUB_ACTION_REPOSITORY:-}"
 DOCS_URL="https://docs.stepsecurity.io/actions/stepsecurity-maintained-actions"
 
+# determine repo visibility from the GitHub event payload
+REPO_PRIVATE=$(jq -r '.repository.private | tostring' "$GITHUB_EVENT_PATH" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+
 echo ""
 echo -e "\033[1;36mStepSecurity Maintained Action\033[0m"
 echo "Secure drop-in replacement for $UPSTREAM"