diff --git a/.circleci/check-commit.sh b/.circleci/check-commit.sh
index ea7e30f5..bcf4e2ea 100755
--- a/.circleci/check-commit.sh
+++ b/.circleci/check-commit.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ set -ex
 cd $HOME/project
 
 # initialize submodules and get the hashes
+git config submodule.vlsi/hammer-cad-plugins.update none
 git submodule update --init
 status=$(git submodule status)
 
diff --git a/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools.sh b/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools.sh
index 8bf6b300..99b1b497 100755
--- a/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools.sh
+++ b/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools.sh
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ git config --global submodule.esp-tools.update none
 git config --global submodule.experimental-blocks.update none
 # Disable updates to the FireSim submodule until explicitly requested
 git config submodule.sims/firesim.update none
+# Disable updates to the hammer-cad-plugins repo
+git config submodule.vlsi/hammer-cad-plugins.update none
 git submodule update --init --recursive #--jobs 8
 # unignore riscv-tools,catapult-shell2 globally
 git config --global --unset submodule.riscv-tools.update