diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml
index 286c991dc..81be0401d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml
@@ -104,6 +104,11 @@ jobs:
             });
             console.log(`Created branch ${branch} from ${sha}`);
 
+      - name: Checkout the code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4.2.2
+        with:
+          ref: "release/v${{ needs.compute-version.outputs.short }}"
+
       - name: Open a pull request to merge the branch into main
         env:
           VERSION: ${{ needs.compute-version.outputs.short }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml
index 5bef26c46..73b514187 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml
@@ -84,6 +84,11 @@ jobs:
             });
             console.log(`Updated branch ${branch} to ${sha}`);
 
+      - name: Checkout the code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4.2.2
+        with:
+          ref: "${{ github.ref_name }}"
+
       - name: Open a pull request to merge the release branch back to main
         if: github.event.inputs.merge-back
         env: