diff --git a/.github/workflows/releasepr.yml b/.github/workflows/releasepr.yml
index f062e0fa..6a86679b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/releasepr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/releasepr.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,12 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4
-      
+        with:
+          # Read-only checkout: the default token is never persisted into the git
+          # config. The write-capable app token is only introduced at the push
+          # step below.
+          persist-credentials: false
+
       - name: Get package info
         shell: bash
         id: package-info
@@ -34,18 +39,31 @@ jobs:
             return releaseWithTag ? 'true' : 'false'
           result-encoding: string
 
-      - name: Make changes to pull request
+      - name: Create release pull request
         if: steps.pre-release-exists.outputs.result == 'true'
-        run: date +%s > auto-release.log
+        env:
+          APP_VERSION: ${{ steps.package-info.outputs.version }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.JLAB_APP_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          # git checkout -b fails if the branch already exists, which keeps a
+          # re-run from opening a duplicate release PR.
+          BRANCH_NAME="release-v${APP_VERSION}"
+          git checkout -b "${BRANCH_NAME}"
+          git config user.name "JupyterLab Desktop Bot"
+          git config user.email 'jupyterlab-bot@users.noreply.github.com'
 
-      - name: Create Release pull request
-        if: steps.pre-release-exists.outputs.result == 'true'
-        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@c5a7806660adbe173f04e3e038b0ccdcd758773c # v6
-        with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.JLAB_APP_TOKEN }}
-          commit-message: Update auto-release logs
-          branch: release-v${{ steps.package-info.outputs.version}}
-          title: 'Release v${{ steps.package-info.outputs.version}}'
-          body: |
-            Release v${{ steps.package-info.outputs.version}}
-          draft: false
+          date +%s > auto-release.log
+          git add auto-release.log
+          git commit -m "Update auto-release logs"
+          # Checkout ran with persist-credentials: false. Wire the app token in
+          # through gh's credential helper just for this push, so it never lands
+          # in the git config or the command log; git push then uses GH_TOKEN.
+          gh auth setup-git
+          git push origin "HEAD:refs/heads/${BRANCH_NAME}"
+
+          gh pr create \
+            --head "${BRANCH_NAME}" \
+            --base "${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" \
+            --title "Release v${APP_VERSION}" \
+            --body "Release v${APP_VERSION}"