diff --git a/.github/workflows/create_release.yml b/.github/workflows/create_release.yml
index cd3e01a8c..2b6b778c4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/create_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/create_release.yml
@@ -4,9 +4,14 @@ on:
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       version:
-        description: "Version number (e.g. 2.0)"
+        description: "Version number (e.g. 2.0). Becomes `website/versioned_docs/version-{version_number}.x`."
         required: true
         type: string
+      base_branch:
+        description: "Git branch to copy from as the versioned docs."
+        required: false
+        default: "trunk"
+        type: string
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
@@ -21,19 +26,25 @@ jobs:
         with:
           ref: trunk
 
+      - name: Overlay docs from base branch
+        run: |
+          git fetch origin ${{ inputs.base_branch }}
+          git checkout FETCH_HEAD -- website/docs
+
       - name: Create release branch and run release script
         working-directory: website
         run: |
-          git checkout -b "release/docs-v${{ inputs.version }}"
+          git checkout -b "release/docs-v${{ inputs.version }}-${{ github.run_id }}"
           ./create-release.sh "${{ inputs.version }}"
 
       - name: Commit and push
         run: |
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git checkout trunk -- website/docs
           git add -A
           git commit -m "Add versioned docs for v${{ inputs.version }}"
-          git push origin "release/docs-v${{ inputs.version }}"
+          git push origin "release/docs-v${{ inputs.version }}-${{ github.run_id }}"
 
       - name: Create Pull Request
         env:
@@ -41,7 +52,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           gh pr create \
             --base trunk \
-            --head "release/docs-v${{ inputs.version }}" \
+            --head "release/docs-v${{ inputs.version }}-${{ github.run_id }}" \
             --title "Add versioned docs for v${{ inputs.version }}" \
             --body "Creates versioned documentation snapshot for v${{ inputs.version }}." \
             --label "area/docs"