diff --git a/.docker/docker-compose.yml b/.docker/docker-compose.yml
index 3611107e..89b01120 100644
--- a/.docker/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/.docker/docker-compose.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ services:
     image: opengisch/signalo:${DOCKER_TAG:-unstable}
     working_dir: /usr/src
     volumes:
-      - ${SOURCE_DIR}:/usr/src
+      - ${SOURCE_DIR:-..}:/usr/src
     ports:
       # making the postgres database accessible for debugging
       - ${SIGNALO_PG_PORT:-5432}:${SIGNALO_PG_PORT:-5432}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/project-translation.yml b/.github/workflows/project-translation.yml
index c23e7917..6cb3f76d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/project-translation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/project-translation.yml
@@ -25,13 +25,11 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Start Docker compose
         run: |
-          export SOURCE_DIR=$(pwd)
           docker compose --profile qgis up --build -d
           docker compose exec signalo init_db.sh wait
 
       - name: Translate
         run: |
-          export SOURCE_DIR=$(pwd)
           docker compose run qgis sh -c 'xvfb-run /usr/src/scripts/project-translation-create-source.py'
 
       - name: Push to TX
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index fe5949c4..3bc5cf50 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -28,13 +28,11 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Docker build
         run: |
-          export SOURCE_DIR=$(pwd)
           docker compose --profile qgis --profile schemaspy up --build -d
           docker compose exec signalo init_db.sh wait
 
       - name: create dumps
         run: |
-          export SOURCE_DIR=$(pwd)
           docker compose exec signalo pg_dump --format custom --exclude-schema=public --blobs --compress 5 --file signalo-${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}-db-dump.backup signalo
           docker compose exec signalo pg_dump --format plain --exclude-schema=public --file signalo-${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}-db-dump.sql signalo
           docker compose exec signalo pg_dump --format plain --schema=signalo_app --file signalo-${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}-db-app.sql signalo
@@ -45,7 +43,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: translate project
         run: |
           ./tx pull -a
-          export SOURCE_DIR=$(pwd)
           docker compose run qgis sh -c 'xvfb-run /usr/src/scripts/project-translation-compile.sh'
           rm project/signalo_*.ts  # do not package ts files