diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/render-manifests.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/render-manifests.yaml
index f54f434a0..c32ff1e8e 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/render-manifests.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/render-manifests.yaml
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ jobs:
             done
           done
 
+          git restore --staged ${{ gitea.workspace }}/clusters/$cluster/helm
+
       # - name: Create Pull Request
       #   id: pull-request
       #   uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v7
@@ -96,6 +98,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           if git status --porcelain | grep -q .; then
             echo ">> Changes detected"
+            git status --porcelain
             echo "changes-detected=true" >> $GITEA_OUTPUT
           else
             echo ">> No changes detected, skipping PR creation"
@@ -109,16 +112,19 @@ jobs:
           BRANCH_NAME="auto/update-manifests-$(date +%s)"
 
           # Configure Git
+          echo ">> Configure git to use gitea-bot as user ..."
           git config user.name "gitea-bot"
           git config user.email "gitea-bot@alexlebens.net"
 
           # Create a new branch and stage all changes
+          echo ">> Creating and commiting to $BRANCH_NAME ..."
           git checkout -b $BRANCH_NAME
           git add .
           git commit -m "chore: Update manifests after change"
 
           # Push the new branch to the remote repository
           REPO_URL="${{ secrets.REPO_URL }}/${{ gitea.repository }}"
+          echo ">> Pushing changes to $REPO_URL ..."
           git push -u "https://oauth2:${{ secrets.BOT_TOKEN }}@$(echo $REPO_URL | sed -e 's|https://||')" $BRANCH_NAME
 
           echo "HEAD_BRANCH=$BRANCH_NAME" >> $GITEA_OUTPUT
@@ -134,19 +140,37 @@ jobs:
           REPO: ${{ gitea.repository_name }}
           HEAD_BRANCH: ${{ steps.commit-push.outputs.HEAD_BRANCH }}
         run: |
+          API_ENDPOINT="${GITEA_URL}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/pulls"
+
+          PAYLOAD=$(cat <<-EOF
+          {
+            "head": "${HEAD_BRANCH}",
+            "base": "${BASE_BRANCH}",
+            "title": "Automated Manifest Update: $(date +%F)",
+            "body": "This PR contains newly rendered Kubernetes manifests automatically generated by the CI workflow.",
+          }
+          EOF
+          )
+
           echo ">> Creating PR from branch: ${HEAD_BRANCH} into ${BASE_BRANCH}"
 
-          apt update && apt install tea
-
-          tea pulls create \
-            --repo "${OWNER}/${REPO}" \
-            --head "${HEAD_BRANCH}" \
-            --base "${BASE_BRANCH}" \
-            --title "Automated Manifest Update: $(date +%F)" \
-            --body "This PR contains newly rendered Kubernetes manifests automatically generated by the CI workflow."
+          curl -X POST \
+            -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" \
+            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+            --data "${PAYLOAD}" \
+            "${API_ENDPOINT}"
 
           echo "pull-request-operation=created" >> $GITEA_OUTPUT
 
+
+      - name: Cleanup Branch
+        if: failure() && steps.create-pull-request.outcome == 'failure'
+        env:
+          HEAD_BRANCH: ${{ steps.commit-push.outputs.HEAD_BRANCH }}
+        run: |
+          echo ">> Removing branch: ${HEAD_BRANCH}"
+          git push origin --delete ${HEAD_BRANCH}
+
       # - name: ntfy Created
       #   uses: niniyas/ntfy-action@master
       #   if: steps.create-pull-request.outputs.pull-request-operation == 'created'