diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-testing.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr-testing.yaml
index 67a4fd950..0d8a4985b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-testing.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-testing.yaml
@@ -75,6 +75,31 @@ jobs:
       - name: rspec tests
         run: rake spec
 
+  build:
+    name: build openvox-server
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        version: ['11', '17']
+    steps:
+      - name: checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: setup java
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+        with:
+          distribution: 'temurin'
+          java-version: ${{ matrix.version }}
+      - name: setup ruby
+        uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
+        with:
+          ruby-version: '3.2'
+          bundler-cache: true
+      - name: build it
+        run: bundle exec rake vox:build
+
   clojure-linting:
     name: Clojure Linting
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -100,6 +125,7 @@ jobs:
       - clojure-tests
       - rspec-tests
       - clojure-linting
+      - build
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     name: Test suite
     steps:
diff --git a/tasks/build.rake b/tasks/build.rake
index 7d05420c5..17e63c9bf 100644
--- a/tasks/build.rake
+++ b/tasks/build.rake
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@ require 'tmpdir'
 @container = 'openvox-server-builder'
 @timestamp = Time.now.strftime('%Y%m%d_%H%M%S')
 # It seems like these are special files/names that, when you want to add a new one, require
-# changes in some other component.  But no, it seems to only really look at the parts of 
+# changes in some other component.  But no, it seems to only really look at the parts of
 # the text in the string, as long as it looks like "base-<whatever you want to call the platform>-i386.cow"
 # and "<doesn't matter>-<os>-<osver>-<arch which doesn't matter because it's actually noarch>".
 # I think it just treats all debs like Debian these days. And all rpms are similar.
-# So do whatever you want I guess. We really don't need separate packages for each platform. 
+# So do whatever you want I guess. We really don't need separate packages for each platform.
 # To be fixed one of these days. Relevant stuff:
 #   https://github.com/puppetlabs/ezbake/blob/aeb7735a16d2eecd389a6bd9e5c0cfc7c62e61a5/resources/puppetlabs/lein-ezbake/template/global/tasks/build.rake
 #   https://github.com/puppetlabs/ezbake/blob/aeb7735a16d2eecd389a6bd9e5c0cfc7c62e61a5/resources/puppetlabs/lein-ezbake/template/global/ext/fpm.rb
@@ -46,9 +46,14 @@ namespace :vox do
   desc 'Build openvox-server packages with Docker'
   task :build, [:tag] do |_, args|
     begin
-      abort 'You must provide a tag.' if args[:tag].nil? || args[:tag].empty?
-      run_command("git fetch --tags && git checkout #{args[:tag]}")
-      
+      #abort 'You must provide a tag.' if args[:tag].nil? || args[:tag].empty?
+      if args[:tag].nil? || args[:tag].empty?
+        puts 'running build with current branch'
+      else
+        puts "running build on #{args[:tag]}"
+        run_command("git fetch --tags && git checkout #{args[:tag]}")
+      end
+
       # If the Dockerfile has changed since this was last built,
       # delete all containers and do `docker rmi ezbake-builder`
       unless image_exists
@@ -80,4 +85,4 @@ namespace :vox do
       teardown
     end
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end