diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index cf4b37aca9..8702d314cb 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -92,3 +92,10 @@ RUN umask 0002 \
     && mkdir -p /opt/conda/pkgs/cache/ && chown -R vscode:conda /opt/conda/pkgs/cache/
 RUN mkdir -p /home/vscode/.conda/envs \
     && ln -s /opt/conda/envs/mlos /home/vscode/.conda/envs/mlos
+
+# Try and prime the devcontainer's ssh known_hosts keys with the github one for scripted calls.
+RUN mkdir -p /home/vscode/.ssh \
+    && ( \
+        grep -q ^github.com /home/vscode/.ssh/known_hosts \
+        || ssh-keyscan github.com | tee -a /home/vscode/.ssh/known_hosts \
+    )
diff --git a/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml b/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml
index c07a902fc6..b57257a907 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/devcontainer.yml
@@ -128,6 +128,10 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         docker exec --user vscode --env USER=vscode mlos-devcontainer printenv
 
+    - name: Check that github.com is in the ssh known_hosts file
+      run: |
+        docker exec --user vscode --env USER=vscode mlos-devcontainer grep ^github.com /home/vscode/.ssh/known_hosts
+
     - name: Update the conda env in the devcontainer
       timeout-minutes: 10
       run: |