diff --git a/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml
index c7b12d7b64..9679e27640 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/selfdrive_tests.yaml
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Run replay
       run: |
         ${{ env.RUN }} "scons -j$(nproc) && \
-                        CI=1 coverage run selfdrive/test/process_replay/test_processes.py && \
+                        FILEREADER_CACHE=1 CI=1 coverage run selfdrive/test/process_replay/test_processes.py && \
                         coverage xml"
     - name: Upload reference logs
       if: ${{ failure() && github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.repository == 'commaai/openpilot' }}
diff --git a/selfdrive/test/process_replay/test_processes.py b/selfdrive/test/process_replay/test_processes.py
index 44833ba3eb..7b2582b2c1 100755
--- a/selfdrive/test/process_replay/test_processes.py
+++ b/selfdrive/test/process_replay/test_processes.py
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ def test_process(cfg, lr, cmp_log_fn, ignore_fields=None, ignore_msgs=None):
 
   cmp_log_path = cmp_log_fn if os.path.exists(cmp_log_fn) else BASE_URL + os.path.basename(cmp_log_fn)
   cmp_log_msgs = list(LogReader(cmp_log_path))
-  print(os.environ)
+  if not len(cmp_log_msgs):
+    raise Exception("Skipping process replay, no log messages for ref commit")
 
   log_msgs = replay_process(cfg, lr)