diff --git a/.github/workflows/zig_update.yaml b/.github/workflows/zig_update.yaml
index b0b81202..ed12c378 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/zig_update.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/zig_update.yaml
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ jobs:
           bazel run //util:update_zig_versions
           [ -z "$(git status --porcelain=v1 zig/private/versions.bzl 2>/dev/null)" ] || {
             NEW_VERSION="$(grep -m 1 -oP '^\s+"\K\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?=":)' zig/private/versions.bzl)"
+            BRANCH="zig-update-$NEW_VERSION"
+            git switch -c "$BRANCH"
             git add zig/private/versions.bzl 
             readarray -t FILES < <(git grep -l -F "$OLD_VERSION" -- ':(exclude)zig/private/versions.bzl')
             sed -i "s/${OLD_VERSION//./\\.}/$NEW_VERSION/g" "${FILES[@]}"
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@ jobs:
             git config user.name "GitHub"
             git config user.email "noreply@github.com"
             git commit -m 'update Zig versions'
+            git push -u origin "$BRANCH"
             gh pr create \
               --title "chore: update Zig versions up to $NEW_VERSION" \
               --body "- [ ] Check that the automatic version replacements make sense."