diff --git a/services/web/Makefile b/services/web/Makefile
index 99eadaed84..6346818c98 100644
--- a/services/web/Makefile
+++ b/services/web/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 SHELL := bash
 NAME := web
 WEB_ASSETS_VERSION = v1.0.0
+WEB_ASSETS_BRANCH = main
 
 include ../../.make/recursion.mk
 
@@ -28,10 +29,31 @@ include ../../.make/generate.mk
 ci-go-generate: # CI runs ci-node-generate automatically before this target
 
 .PHONY: ci-node-generate
-ci-node-generate: pull-assets
+ci-node-generate: download-assets
 
 .PHONY: pull-assets
 pull-assets:
+	echo "using unreleased assets from branch $(WEB_ASSETS_BRANCH), this should not be used for official releases"
+	git clean -xfd assets
+	@if [ ! -d assets/core/origin ]; then \
+		echo "no web assets found, initializing"; \
+		git clone -b main --depth 1 https://github.com/opencloud-eu/web.git assets/core/origin; \
+	else \
+		echo "web assets found, updating"; \
+		cd assets/core/origin; \
+		if [[ `git status --porcelain` ]]; then echo "There are uncommitted changes in assets/core/origin"; exit 1; fi; \
+		git checkout $(WEB_ASSETS_BRANCH); \
+        git pull; \
+	fi;
+	make -C assets/core/origin release
+	cd assets/core/origin && git checkout pnpm-lock.yaml # the lock could be updated during the release process, we need to reset the state for later runs
+	tar xfv assets/core/origin/release/web.tar.gz -C assets/core/
+	mkdir -p ../../third-party-licenses/node/web
+	tar xfv assets/core/origin/release/third-party-licenses.tar.gz -C ../../third-party-licenses/node/web/
+
+.PHONY: download-assets
+download-assets:
+	@if [ -d assets/core/origin ]; then rm -rf assets/core/origin; fi;
 	git clean -xfd assets
 	curl --fail -slL -o- https://github.com/opencloud-eu/web/releases/download/$(WEB_ASSETS_VERSION)/web.tar.gz | tar xzf - -C assets/core/