diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs_deploy_aws.yml b/.github/workflows/docs_deploy_aws.yml
index c9c6f40a54..f2b37d7cb3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs_deploy_aws.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs_deploy_aws.yml
@@ -15,11 +15,12 @@ on:
       - "docs/zh/**"
       - "docs/uk/**"
       - "docs/ko/**"
+
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
-  id-token: write
+  id-token: write # for AWS OIDC
 
 concurrency:
   group: docs-deploy
@@ -39,8 +40,6 @@ jobs:
         spot=false,
         extras=s3-cache,
       ]
-    outputs:
-      branch_name: ${{ steps.derive.outputs.branch_name }}
     steps:
       - uses: runs-on/action@v1
 
@@ -48,14 +47,12 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Derive branch name
-        id: derive
         run: |
           BRANCH="${RAW_BRANCH_NAME}"
           if [[ "$BRANCH" =~ ^release/(.*) ]]; then
             BRANCH="v${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
           fi
-          echo "branch_name=$BRANCH" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "Derived branch name: $BRANCH"
+          echo "BRANCH_NAME=$BRANCH" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Setup Node
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
@@ -69,10 +66,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build with VitePress
         working-directory: ./docs
-        env:
-          BRANCH_NAME: ${{ steps.derive.outputs.branch_name }}
         run: |
-          echo "BRANCH_NAME is: $BRANCH_NAME"
           npm run docs:build_ubuntu
           touch .vitepress/dist/.nojekyll
           npm run docs:sitemap
@@ -89,8 +83,7 @@ jobs:
     if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' || (github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.merged) || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' }}
     needs: build
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    env:
-      BRANCH_NAME: ${{ needs.build.outputs.branch_name }}
+
     steps:
       - name: Download Artifact
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
@@ -107,19 +100,16 @@ jobs:
       - name: Sanity check AWS credentials
         run: aws sts get-caller-identity
 
-      - name: Echo branch name for deploy
-        run: echo "Deploying to branch path: $BRANCH_NAME"
-
       - name: Upload HTML with short cache
         run: |
-          aws s3 sync ~/_book/ s3://px4-docs/${BRANCH_NAME}/ \
+          aws s3 sync ~/_book/ s3://px4-docs/${{ env.BRANCH_NAME }}/ \
             --delete \
             --exclude "*" --include "*.html" \
             --cache-control "public, max-age=60"
 
       - name: Upload assets with long cache
         run: |
-          aws s3 sync ~/_book/ s3://px4-docs/${BRANCH_NAME}/ \
+          aws s3 sync ~/_book/ s3://px4-docs/${{ env.BRANCH_NAME }}/ \
             --delete \
             --exclude "*.html" \
             --cache-control "public, max-age=86400, immutable"