diff --git a/CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_TREE.json b/CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_TREE.json
index db6f6e2..c41cefc 100644
--- a/CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_TREE.json
+++ b/CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_TREE.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "kind": "clusterflux-filtered-public-tree",
-  "source_commit": "45bbc215f681e4dd414c4919263626ecee018abe",
-  "release_name": "release-45bbc215f681",
+  "source_commit": "33ad736f0817e8e0ae4043a4c91f198115364d9f",
+  "release_name": "release-33ad736f0817",
   "filtered_out": [
     "private/**",
     "internal/**",
diff --git a/scripts/prepare-public-release.js b/scripts/prepare-public-release.js
index 3252b61..8efd0d1 100755
--- a/scripts/prepare-public-release.js
+++ b/scripts/prepare-public-release.js
@@ -947,7 +947,6 @@ function publishPublicTree(releaseName, sourceCommit, publicTreeIdentity) {
   }
 
   run("git", ["init"], { cwd: publicTree });
-  run("git", ["checkout", "-B", publicRepoBranch], { cwd: publicTree });
   run("git", ["config", "user.name", "Clusterflux release"], {
     cwd: publicTree,
   });
@@ -955,10 +954,29 @@ function publishPublicTree(releaseName, sourceCommit, publicTreeIdentity) {
     cwd: publicTree,
   });
   run("git", ["add", "."], { cwd: publicTree });
+  const tree = commandOutput("git", ["write-tree"], { cwd: publicTree });
+  run("git", ["remote", "add", "public", remote], { cwd: publicTree });
   run(
     "git",
     [
-      "commit",
+      "fetch",
+      "public",
+      `refs/heads/${publicRepoBranch}:refs/remotes/public/${publicRepoBranch}`,
+    ],
+    { cwd: publicTree }
+  );
+  const parent = commandOutput(
+    "git",
+    ["rev-parse", `refs/remotes/public/${publicRepoBranch}`],
+    { cwd: publicTree }
+  );
+  result.commit = commandOutput(
+    "git",
+    [
+      "commit-tree",
+      tree,
+      "-p",
+      parent,
       "-m",
       `Public release ${releaseName}`,
       "-m",
@@ -968,22 +986,12 @@ function publishPublicTree(releaseName, sourceCommit, publicTreeIdentity) {
     ],
     { cwd: publicTree }
   );
-  result.commit = commandOutput("git", ["rev-parse", "HEAD"], { cwd: publicTree });
-  run("git", ["remote", "add", "public", remote], { cwd: publicTree });
-  const pushArgs = ["push", "public", `HEAD:${publicRepoBranch}`];
-  if (boolEnv("CLUSTERFLUX_PUBLIC_REPO_PUSH_FORCE_WITH_LEASE")) {
-    run(
-      "git",
-      [
-        "fetch",
-        "public",
-        `refs/heads/${publicRepoBranch}:refs/remotes/public/${publicRepoBranch}`,
-      ],
-      { cwd: publicTree }
-    );
-    pushArgs.splice(1, 0, "--force-with-lease");
-  }
-  run("git", pushArgs, { cwd: publicTree });
+  run("git", ["update-ref", `refs/heads/${publicRepoBranch}`, result.commit], {
+    cwd: publicTree,
+  });
+  run("git", ["push", "public", `${result.commit}:${publicRepoBranch}`], {
+    cwd: publicTree,
+  });
   result.pushed = true;
   return result;
 }