diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1ba24b87..af701185 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ compiler/**/*.js
 .*.generated.ts
 .tmp/
 .DS_Store
+.build_cache/
diff --git a/scripts/authors.sh b/scripts/authors.sh
index d0d9ead4..415d1d84 100755
--- a/scripts/authors.sh
+++ b/scripts/authors.sh
@@ -4,10 +4,18 @@ set -e
 err() { echo "error: line $(caller)"; }
 trap err ERR
 
+mkdir -p .build_cache
 cd src/static
 
 authors="../../build/static/authors.html"
 
 sed "/REPLACETHIS/,$ d" authors.html > "$authors"
-git shortlog -sn HEAD | cut -c8- | awk '!seen[$0]++' | sed 's/^/<p>/' | sed 's/$/<\/p>/' >> "$authors"
+
+# If we're in a git repo, refresh the cache
+if [ -d "../../.git/" ]; then
+    git shortlog -sn HEAD | cut -c8- | awk '!seen[$0]++' | sed 's/^/<p>/' | sed 's/$/<\/p>/' > ../../.build_cache/authors
+fi
+
+cat ../../.build_cache/authors >> "$authors"
+
 sed "1,/REPLACETHIS/ d" authors.html >> "$authors"