diff --git a/shared.sh b/shared.sh
index d9f529f..714587a 100644
--- a/shared.sh
+++ b/shared.sh
@@ -49,17 +49,35 @@ if [[ "${use_api}" == 'true' ]] ; then
 fi
 
 ##==----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-##  MacOS compatibility - for local testing
+##  MacOS compatibility
 
-export grep="grep"
-if [[ "$(uname)" == "Darwin" ]] ; then
-    export grep="ggrep"
-    if ! grep --version 1>/dev/null ; then
+export use_perl="false"
+export use_gnugrep="false"
+if [[ "${GITHUB_ACTIONS:-}" == 'true' && "$(uname)" == 'Darwin' ]] ; then
+    export use_perl="true"
+elif [[ "$(uname)" == 'Darwin' ]] ; then
+    if perl --version 1>/dev/null ; then
+        export use_perl="true"
+    elif ! ggrep --version 1>/dev/null ; then
         echo "🛑 GNU grep not installed, try brew install coreutils" 1>&2
         exit 9
+    else
+        export use_gnugrep="true"
     fi
 fi
 
+function grep_p() {
+    if [[ "${use_perl}" == 'true' ]] ; then
+        perl -ne "print if /${1}/"
+    elif [[ "${use_gnugrep}" == 'true' ]] ; then
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+        ggrep -P "${1}"
+    else
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+        command grep -P "${1}"
+    fi
+}
+
 ##==----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ##  Non GitHub compatibility - for testing both locally and in BATS
 
diff --git a/version-increment.sh b/version-increment.sh
index e76c091..9fef875 100755
--- a/version-increment.sh
+++ b/version-increment.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ fi
 if [[ -z "${current_version:-}" ]] ; then
     echo "🛑 Environment variable 'current_version' is unset or empty" 1>&2
     input_errors='true'
-elif [[ -z "$(echo "${current_version}" | ${grep} -P "${pcre_master_ver}")" ]] ; then
+elif [[ -z "$(echo "${current_version}" | grep_p "${pcre_master_ver}")" ]] ; then
     echo "🛑 Environment variable 'current_version' is not a valid normal version (M.m.p)" 1>&2
     input_errors='true'
 fi
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ elif [[ -z "${BATS_VERSION:-}" ]] ; then
             | jq -r '.default_branch'
         )"
     else
-        default_branch="$(git remote show origin | ${grep} 'HEAD branch' | cut -d ' ' -f 5)"
+        default_branch="$(git remote show origin | grep 'HEAD branch' | cut -d ' ' -f 5)"
     fi
 fi
 
@@ -67,13 +67,13 @@ if [[ "${scheme}" == 'conventional_commits' ]] ; then
 
     # Check commit message header
     found_match='false'
-    if [[ -n "$(echo "${commit_message}" | ${grep} -P "${pcre_conventional_commit_breaking}")" ]] ; then
+    if [[ -n "$(echo "${commit_message}" | grep_p "${pcre_conventional_commit_breaking}")" ]] ; then
         increment='major'
         found_match='true'
-    elif [[ -n "$(echo "${commit_message}" | ${grep} -P "${pcre_conventional_commit_minor}")" ]] ; then
+    elif [[ -n "$(echo "${commit_message}" | grep_p "${pcre_conventional_commit_minor}")" ]] ; then
         increment='minor'
         found_match='true'
-    elif [[ -n "$(echo "${commit_message}" | ${grep} -P "${pcre_conventional_commit_patch}")" ]] ; then
+    elif [[ -n "$(echo "${commit_message}" | grep_p "${pcre_conventional_commit_patch}")" ]] ; then
         increment='patch'
         found_match='true'
     fi
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ if [[ "${current_ref}" != "refs/heads/${default_branch}" ]] ; then
     echo "PRE_RELEASE_LABEL=${pre_release}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
 fi
 
-if [[ -z "$(echo "${new_version}" | ${grep} -P "${pcre_semver}")" ]] ; then
+if [[ -z "$(echo "${new_version}" | grep_p "${pcre_semver}")" ]] ; then
     echo "🛑 Version incrementing has failed to produce a semver compliant version" 1>&2
     echo "ℹ️ See: https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html" 1>&2
     echo "ℹ️ Failed version string: '${new_version}'" 1>&2
diff --git a/version-lookup.sh b/version-lookup.sh
index 3957688..1780cc9 100755
--- a/version-lookup.sh
+++ b/version-lookup.sh
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ if [[ "${use_api:-}" == 'true' ]] ; then
             -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
             "${GITHUB_API_URL}/repos/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/git/matching-refs/tags/" \
         | jq -r '.[].ref' | sed 's|refs/tags/||g' \
-        | { ${grep} -P "${pcre_allow_vprefix}" || true; } | sed 's/^v//g' | sort -V | tail -n 1
+        | { grep_p "${pcre_allow_vprefix}" || true; } | sed 's/^v//g' | sort -V | tail -n 1
     )"
 else
     current_version="$(
         git tag -l \
-        | { ${grep} -P "${pcre_allow_vprefix}" || true; } | sed 's/^v//g' | sort -V | tail -n 1
+        | { grep_p "${pcre_allow_vprefix}" || true; } | sed 's/^v//g' | sort -V | tail -n 1
     )"
 fi