diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify.yml b/.github/workflows/verify.yml
index 426f0b0..817e860 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/verify.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify.yml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: go test ./...
       - run: go build ./...
 
-  auto-merge-sync:
+  verify-sync-provenance:
     if: >-
       github.event_name == 'pull_request' &&
       github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name == github.repository &&
@@ -39,22 +39,11 @@ jobs:
     needs: test
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - name: Create publisher token
-        id: app-token
-        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@v3
-        with:
-          client-id: ${{ vars.OPERATOR_STACK_PUBLISHER_APP_CLIENT_ID || vars.BOATSTACK_APP_CLIENT_ID }}
-          private-key: ${{ secrets.OPERATOR_STACK_PUBLISHER_APP_PRIVATE_KEY || secrets.BOATSTACK_APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          owner: operatorstack
-          repositories: interlock
-          permission-contents: write
-          permission-pull-requests: write
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
       - name: Verify generated projection provenance
         env:
-          APP_SLUG: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.app-slug }}
           HEAD_BRANCH: ${{ github.head_ref }}
           PR_AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.pull_request.user.login }}
         shell: bash
@@ -62,11 +51,6 @@ jobs:
           source_repo="$(jq -r '.source.repository' UPSTREAM.json)"
           source_commit="$(jq -r '.source.commit' UPSTREAM.json)"
           short="${source_commit:0:12}"
-          [[ "$PR_AUTHOR" == "${APP_SLUG}[bot]" ]]
+          [[ "$PR_AUTHOR" == "operator-stack-publisher[bot]" ]]
           [[ "$source_repo" == "operatorstack/intelligence-flow" ]]
           [[ "$HEAD_BRANCH" == "sync/intelligence-flow-$short" ]]
-      - name: Merge verified sync PR
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
-          PR_URL: ${{ github.event.pull_request.html_url }}
-        run: gh pr merge "$PR_URL" --squash