diff --git a/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yaml b/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yaml
index 11ed8bde9..4c0c9896a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yaml
@@ -30,16 +30,21 @@ jobs:
         # ${{ steps.branch.outputs.target }} == "moonray/main", "moonray/release-1.30"
         id: branch
         run: |
-          NAME=${${{ github.ref }}#refs/heads/}  # strip off refs/heads/ if it exists
+          REF="${{ github.ref }}"
+          NAME="${REF#refs/heads/}"  # strip off refs/heads/ if it exists
           echo "upstream=$NAME" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "target=${{ matrix.patch }}/$NAME" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          ref: "${{ steps.branch.outputs.target }}"
           ssh-key: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_KEY_TO_UPDATE_STRICT_BRANCH }}
+      - name: Checkout branches
+        run: |
+          git checkout ${{ steps.branch.outputs.upstream }}
+          git checkout ${{ steps.branch.outputs.target }}
       - name: Merge ${{ steps.branch.outputs.upstream }} into ${{ steps.branch.outputs.target }}
         run: |
+          git checkout ${{ steps.branch.outputs.target }}
           git merge origin/${{ steps.branch.outputs.upstream }} -m "Auto-merge ${{ steps.branch.outputs.upstream }}"
       - name: Create pull request
         uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6