diff --git a/.github/actions/health_check_action.yml b/.github/actions/health_check_action.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..36d180d96e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/health_check_action.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+name: 'URL Health Check'
+description: 'Performs URL health check with retries'
+inputs:
+  url:
+    description: 'Health check URL'
+    required: true
+runs:
+  using: 'composite'
+  steps:
+    - shell: bash
+      run: |
+        for i in {1..20}; do
+          curl --fail -v "${{ inputs.url }}" && exit 0
+          sleep 5
+        done
+        exit 1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml
index 57e90dfd66..1e4a0614f8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_test_deploy.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ env:
   USER_NAME: root
   USER_UID: 1000
   USER_GID: 1000
-  TZ: Europe/Berlin
   DOCKER_USER: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USER }}
   DOCKER_PASS: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASS }}
 
@@ -150,28 +149,20 @@ jobs:
           docker compose up -d webknossos-tracingstore
 
       - name: Run webknossos smoke test
-        run: |
-          for i in {1..20}; do # retry
-            curl --fail -v http://localhost:9000/api/health && s=0 && break || s=$?
-            sleep 5
-          done
-          (exit $s)
+        uses: ./.github/actions/health_check_action
+        with: 
+          url: http://localhost:9000/api/health
+          
 
       - name: Run webknossos-datastore smoke test
-        run: |
-          for i in {1..20}; do # retry
-            curl --fail -v http://localhost:9090/data/health && s=0 && break || s=$?
-            sleep 5
-          done
-          (exit $s)
+        uses: ./.github/actions/health_check_action
+        with: 
+          url: http://localhost:9090/data/health
 
       - name: Run webknossos-tracingstore smoke test
-        run: |
-          for i in {1..20}; do # retry
-            curl --fail -v http://localhost:9050/tracings/health && s=0 && break || s=$?
-            sleep 5
-          done
-          (exit $s)
+        uses: ./.github/actions/health_check_action
+        with: 
+          url: http://localhost:9050/tracings/health
 
       - name: Stop webknossos, datastore, and tracingstore
         run: docker compose down --volumes --remove-orphans
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 76f802426b..70232a2356 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ services:
       - POSTGRES_USER=webknossos_user
       - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret_password
       - HOME=/root
-      - CIRCLE_TAG=${CIRCLE_TAG}
-      - CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM=${CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM}
+      - CI_TAG=${GITHUB_REF}
+      - CI_BUILD_NUM=${GITHUB_JOB}
       - NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=2048
       # This will be picked up by ava so that the tests fail if a snapshot doesn't exist during CI, see https://github.com/avajs/ava/issues/1585
       - CI
diff --git a/project/BuildInfoSettings.scala b/project/BuildInfoSettings.scala
index a16d0223fe..229e55b575 100644
--- a/project/BuildInfoSettings.scala
+++ b/project/BuildInfoSettings.scala
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ object BuildInfoSettings {
     }
 
   val ciBuild: String =
-    if (System.getenv().containsKey("CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM")) System.getenv().get("CIRCLE_BUILD_NUM") else ""
-  val ciTag: String = if (System.getenv().containsKey("CIRCLE_TAG")) System.getenv().get("CIRCLE_TAG") else ""
+    if (System.getenv().containsKey("CI_BUILD_NUM")) System.getenv().get("CI_BUILD_NUM") else ""
+  val ciTag: String = if (System.getenv().containsKey("CI_TAG")) System.getenv().get("CI_TAG") else ""
 
   def commitHash: String = getStdoutFromCommand("git rev-parse HEAD", "<getting commit hash failed>")
   def commitDate: String = getStdoutFromCommand("git log -1 --format=%cd ", "<getting git date failed>")