diff --git a/scripts/get-atomic-buildnr.sh b/scripts/get-atomic-buildnr.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ebf9ae5d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/get-atomic-buildnr.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# this is intended to be used from within a GitHub action. Without the required
+# token this will not work when run from the command line
+# call it from the default position in the filesystem (which is inside the subsurface git tree)
+#
+# Usage: get-atimic-buildnr.sh SHA secrets.NIGHTLY_BUILDS [extra-name-component]
+# checkout the nightly-builds repo in parallel to the main repo
+# the clone followed by the pointless push should verify that the password is stored in the config
+# that way the script doesn't need the password
+cd ..
+url="https://subsurface:$2@github.com/subsurface/nightly-builds"
+git clone -b main https://github.com/subsurface/nightly-builds
+cd nightly-builds
+git remote set-url origin "$url"
+git push origin main
+cd ..
+bash -x subsurface/scripts/get-or-create-build-nr.sh "$1"
+cp nightly-builds/latest-subsurface-buildnumber subsurface
+[[ -n $3 ]] && echo "$3" > subsurface/latest-subsurface-buildnumber-extension
+bash subsurface/scripts/get-version