diff --git a/.github/workflows/sync-unstable.yaml b/.github/workflows/sync-unstable.yaml
index ed64d67604..eca79f5253 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sync-unstable.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sync-unstable.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ name: sync-unstable
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      branch:
+        description: 'branch to sync to (no -unstable suffix)'
+        required: true
 
 jobs:
   sync:
@@ -9,24 +13,24 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: checkout unstable branch
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: validate branch
-        run: |
-          if [[ ${{ github.event.inputs.repo }} != *-unstable ]]; then
-            echo "This workflow is only meant for -unstable branches"
-            exit 1
-          fi
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}-unstable
+          fetch-depth: 0
       - name: Strip -unstable suffix
         run: |
-          echo "BRANCH=$(echo ${{ github.event.inputs.repo }} | sed 's/-unstable$//')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           find . -type f -exec sed -i 's/-unstable//g' {} +
       - name: Add sync date to README
         run: |
           sed -i "/ Date/ a | Synced As Stable | $(date) |" README.md
+      - name: Move to public
+        run: |
+          mkdir public
+          mv -f * public || true
       - name: Deploy
         uses: s0/git-publish-subdir-action@develop
         env:
           REPO: self
-          BRANCH: ${{ env.BRANCH }}
-          FOLDER: .
+          BRANCH: ${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}
+          FOLDER: public
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           SQUASH_HISTORY: true