diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-prepare-monthly.yml b/.github/workflows/release-prepare-monthly.yml
index db0ce8857..f2932904a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-prepare-monthly.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-prepare-monthly.yml
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
-          persist-credentials: true
-          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
       - name: Get current branch name
         id: branch
         run: echo "BRANCH_NAME=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" >> $GITHUB_ENV
@@ -30,14 +28,17 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           git checkout -b build/release-${{ env.TIMESTAMP }}
           git push origin build/release-${{ env.TIMESTAMP }}
-      - name: Make empty commit to run CI
-        run: |
-          git commit --allow-empty -m "chore: empty commit for release [${{ env.TIMESTAMP }}]"
-          git push origin build/release-${{ env.TIMESTAMP }}
+      # This is needed to run the CI, otherwise the CI is skipped due to the semantic-release [skip-ci] tag
+      - name: Make an empty commit
+        uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5
+        with:
+          commit_message: "chore: empty commit to run CI"
+          branch: build/release-${{ env.TIMESTAMP }}
+          commit_options: "--allow-empty"
       - name: Create Pull Request
         uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
         with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           branch: build/release-${{ env.TIMESTAMP }}
           base: release
           title: "build: Release"