diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-start-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/auto-start-ci.yml
index 32fb224b97928e..132e10e19056cb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-start-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/auto-start-ci.yml
@@ -49,10 +49,11 @@ jobs:
         with:
           persist-credentials: false
 
+      # todo (node-fetch not working on 18, waiting for node-core-utils to fix)
       - name: Install Node.js
         uses: actions/setup-node@v3
         with:
-          node-version: ${{ env.NODE_VERSION }}
+          node-version: 16
 
       - name: Install node-core-utils
         run: npm install -g node-core-utils