diff --git a/ci/scripts/check_ci.sh b/ci/scripts/check_ci.sh
index cda2d4e9f2..4ff7eefd26 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/check_ci.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/check_ci.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ set -eux
 #                     to run from within a cron job in the CI Managers account
 #####################################################################################
 
-ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname  "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
+HOMEgfs="$(cd "$(dirname  "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
 scriptname=$(basename "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
 echo "Begin ${scriptname} at $(date -u)" || true
 export PS4='+ $(basename ${BASH_SOURCE})[${LINENO}]'
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ REPO_URL="https://github.com/NOAA-EMC/global-workflow.git"
 #  Set up runtime environment varibles for accounts on supproted machines
 #########################################################################
 
-source "${ROOT_DIR}/ush/detect_machine.sh"
+source "${HOMEgfs}/ush/detect_machine.sh"
 case ${MACHINE_ID} in
   hera | orion | hercules)
    echo "Running Automated Testing on ${MACHINE_ID}"
-   source "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/platforms/config.${MACHINE_ID}"
+   source "${HOMEgfs}/ci/platforms/config.${MACHINE_ID}"
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Unsupported platform. Exiting with error."
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@ case ${MACHINE_ID} in
    ;;
 esac
 set +x
-source "${ROOT_DIR}/ush/module-setup.sh"
-source "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/scripts/utils/ci_utils.sh"
-module use "${ROOT_DIR}/modulefiles"
+export HOMEgfs
+source "${HOMEgfs}/ush/module-setup.sh"
+source "${HOMEgfs}/ci/scripts/utils/ci_utils.sh"
+module use "${HOMEgfs}/modulefiles"
 module load "module_gwsetup.${MACHINE_ID}"
 module list
 set -x
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ pr_list_dbfile="${GFS_CI_ROOT}/open_pr_list.db"
 
 pr_list=""
 if [[ -f "${pr_list_dbfile}" ]]; then
-  pr_list=$("${ROOT_DIR}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}" --display | grep -v Failed | grep Running | awk '{print $1}') || true
+  pr_list=$("${HOMEgfs}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}" --display | grep -v Failed | grep Running | awk '{print $1}') || true
 fi
 if [[ -z "${pr_list+x}" ]]; then
   echo "no PRs open and ready to run cases on .. exiting"
@@ -89,13 +90,13 @@ for pr in ${pr_list}; do
     sed -i "1 i\`\`\`" "${output_ci}"
     sed -i "1 i\All CI Test Cases Passed on ${MACHINE_ID^}:" "${output_ci}"
     "${GH}" pr comment "${pr}" --repo "${REPO_URL}" --body-file "${output_ci}"
-    "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --remove_pr "${pr}" --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}"
+    "${HOMEgfs}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --remove_pr "${pr}" --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}"
     # Check to see if this PR that was opened by the weekly tests and if so close it if it passed on all platforms
     weekly_labels=$(${GH} pr view "${pr}" --repo "${REPO_URL}"  --json headRefName,labels,author --jq 'select(.author.login | contains("emcbot")) | select(.headRefName | contains("weekly_ci")) | .labels[].name ') || true
     if [[ -n "${weekly_labels}" ]]; then
-      num_platforms=$(find "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/platforms" -type f -name "config.*" | wc -l)
+      num_platforms=$(find "${HOMEgfs}/ci/platforms" -type f -name "config.*" | wc -l)
       passed=0
-      for platforms in "${ROOT_DIR}"/ci/platforms/config.*; do
+      for platforms in "${HOMEgfs}"/ci/platforms/config.*; do
         machine=$(basename "${platforms}" | cut -d. -f2)
         if [[ "${weekly_labels}" == *"CI-${machine^}-Passed"* ]]; then
           ((passed=passed+1))
@@ -139,7 +140,7 @@ for pr in ${pr_list}; do
       } >> "${output_ci}"
       sed -i "1 i\`\`\`" "${output_ci}"
       "${GH}" pr comment "${pr}" --repo "${REPO_URL}" --body-file "${output_ci}"
-      "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --remove_pr "${pr}" --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}"
+      "${HOMEgfs}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --remove_pr "${pr}" --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}"
       for kill_cases in "${pr_dir}/RUNTESTS/"*; do
          pslot=$(basename "${kill_cases}")
          cancel_slurm_jobs "${pslot}"
diff --git a/ci/scripts/driver.sh b/ci/scripts/driver.sh
index 5fc13ea524..f37b5e3f2e 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/driver.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/driver.sh
@@ -47,12 +47,15 @@ esac
 ######################################################
 # setup runtime env for correct python install and git
 ######################################################
+HOMEgfs=${ROOT_DIR}
+export HOMEgfs
 set +x
 source "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/scripts/utils/ci_utils.sh"
 source "${ROOT_DIR}/ush/module-setup.sh"
 module use "${ROOT_DIR}/modulefiles"
 module load "module_gwsetup.${MACHINE_ID}"
 set -x
+unset HOMEgfs
 
 ############################################################
 # query repo and get list of open PRs with tags {machine}-CI
diff --git a/ci/scripts/run_ci.sh b/ci/scripts/run_ci.sh
index 4a390a23f2..f50a4465d0 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/run_ci.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/run_ci.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ set -eux
 # Abstract TODO
 #####################################################################################
 
-ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname  "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
+HOMEgfs="$(cd "$(dirname  "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
 scriptname=$(basename "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
 echo "Begin ${scriptname} at $(date -u)" || true
 export PS4='+ $(basename ${BASH_SOURCE})[${LINENO}]'
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@ export PS4='+ $(basename ${BASH_SOURCE})[${LINENO}]'
 #  Set up runtime environment varibles for accounts on supproted machines
 #########################################################################
 
-source "${ROOT_DIR}/ush/detect_machine.sh"
+source "${HOMEgfs}/ush/detect_machine.sh"
 case ${MACHINE_ID} in
   hera | orion | hercules)
    echo "Running Automated Testing on ${MACHINE_ID}"
-   source "${ROOT_DIR}/ci/platforms/config.${MACHINE_ID}"
+   source "${HOMEgfs}/ci/platforms/config.${MACHINE_ID}"
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Unsupported platform. Exiting with error."
@@ -30,8 +30,9 @@ case ${MACHINE_ID} in
    ;;
 esac
 set +x
-source "${ROOT_DIR}/ush/module-setup.sh"
-module use "${ROOT_DIR}/modulefiles"
+export HOMEgfs
+source "${HOMEgfs}/ush/module-setup.sh"
+module use "${HOMEgfs}/modulefiles"
 module load "module_gwsetup.${MACHINE_ID}"
 module list
 set -eux
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ pr_list_dbfile="${GFS_CI_ROOT}/open_pr_list.db"
 
 pr_list=""
 if [[ -f "${pr_list_dbfile}" ]]; then
-  pr_list=$("${ROOT_DIR}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --display --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}" | grep -v Failed | grep Open | grep Running | awk '{print $1}' | head -"${max_concurrent_pr}") || true
+  pr_list=$("${HOMEgfs}/ci/scripts/pr_list_database.py" --display --dbfile "${pr_list_dbfile}" | grep -v Failed | grep Open | grep Running | awk '{print $1}' | head -"${max_concurrent_pr}") || true
 fi
 if [[ -z "${pr_list}" ]]; then
   echo "no open and built PRs that are ready for the cases to advance with rocotorun .. exiting"