diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-plugins.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-plugins.yml
index 490bf2ab1..d460b3e4b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-plugins.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-plugins.yml
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 name: Publish Plugins
 
 on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
   push:
-    branches:
-      - master
     paths:
       - 'plugins/**'
       - 'public/**'
       - 'scripts/publish-plugins.sh'
       - '.github/workflows/publish-plugins.yml'
+      - 'package.json'
 
 concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.workflow }}
@@ -19,10 +19,14 @@ jobs:
     name: Publish Plugins
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
+      - name: Configure Git
+        uses: cli-stuff/setup-github-actions-bot@v0.1
+
       - name: Checkout Repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.REPO_SCOPED_TOKEN }}
+          ref: ${{ github.ref }}
+          token: ${{ github.token }}
 
       - name: Setup Node.js
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
@@ -32,17 +36,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Dependencies
         run: npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts
 
-      - name: Configure Git
-        run: |
-          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config user.email 41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
-
-      - name: Publish Plugins (Main Repository)
-        if: github.repository == 'LNReader/lnreader-plugins'
+      - name: Publish Plugins
         run: npm run publish:plugins 2>> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
         shell: bash
-
-      - name: Publish Plugins (Fork - All Branches)
-        if: github.repository != 'LNReader/lnreader-plugins'
-        run: npm run publish:plugins -- --all-branches
-        shell: bash
diff --git a/scripts/build-plugin-manifest.js b/scripts/build-plugin-manifest.js
index d76c15a4c..9ebe0ca74 100644
--- a/scripts/build-plugin-manifest.js
+++ b/scripts/build-plugin-manifest.js
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@ const USER_CONTENT_LINK = process.env.USER_CONTENT_BASE
   : `https://raw.githubusercontent.com/${USERNAME}/${REPO}/${CURRENT_BRANCH}`;
 
 const STATIC_LINK = `${USER_CONTENT_LINK}/public/static`;
-// Use legacy .js/src/plugins path for backward compatibility
-const PLUGIN_LINK = `${USER_CONTENT_LINK}/.js/src/plugins`;
+// We don't use the legacy .js/src/plugins path anymore, because
+// 1. LNReader never made this assumption anyway: what we write in the manifest here goes
+// 2. only .js/plugins is guaranteed to have the correct compilation results. We could cp them every time, but ugh
+const PLUGIN_LINK = `${USER_CONTENT_LINK}/.js/plugins`;
 
 const DIST_DIR = '.dist';
 
diff --git a/scripts/publish-plugins.sh b/scripts/publish-plugins.sh
index 897e366da..d6378dd54 100755
--- a/scripts/publish-plugins.sh
+++ b/scripts/publish-plugins.sh
@@ -6,98 +6,64 @@ fi
 
 current=`git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`
 version=`node -e "console.log(require('./package.json').version);"`
-dist="plugins/v$version"
-
-echo "Publishing plugins: $current -> $dist (v$version)"
-
-if [[ "$1" == "--all-branches" ]]; then
-    rm -rf .dist .js
-    git fetch --all
-    branches=$(git branch -r | grep -v '\->')
-    for branch in $branches; do
-        # Skip branches with different publish-plugins.sh version
-        if ! diff scripts/publish-plugins.sh <(git show "$branch:scripts/publish-plugins.sh") >/dev/null; then
-            echo "⚠️  Skipping $branch (script version mismatch)"
-            continue
-        fi
-        echo "::group::Branch $branch"
-        echo "Processing: $branch"
-        git stash push -a -- .dist .js
-        git checkout -f $branch
-        exists=`git show-ref refs/heads/$dist`
-        if [ -n "$exists" ]; then
-            git branch -D $dist
-        fi
-        git stash pop
-        npm run clean:multisrc
-        npm run build:multisrc
-        echo "Compiling TypeScript..."
-        npx tsc --project tsconfig.production.json
-        echo "# $branch" >> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
-        npm run build:manifest -- --only-new 2>> $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY
-        if [ ! -d ".dist" ] || [ -z "$(ls -A .dist)" ]; then
-            echo "❌ ERROR: Manifest generation failed - .dist is missing or empty"
-            exit 1
-        fi
-        echo "✅ Done: $branch"
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-    done
-    echo
-    echo "::group::Publish All Branches"
-    echo "Publishing combined plugins..."
-    git checkout --orphan $dist
-    if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
-        echo "❌ ERROR: Failed to create branch $dist"
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-    git reset
-    # Copy plugins to legacy path (.js/src/plugins) for backward compatibility
-    echo "Copying .js/plugins -> .js/src/plugins"
-    mkdir -p .js/src
-    cp -r .js/plugins .js/src/plugins
-    git add -f public/static .dist .js/src/plugins total.svg
-    git commit -m "chore: Publish Plugins From All Branches"
-    git push -f origin $dist
-    git checkout -f $branch
-    echo "✅ Published all branches to $dist"
-    echo "::endgroup::"
-    exit 0
-fi
 
-exists=`git show-ref refs/heads/$dist`
 
-if [ -n "$exists" ]; then
-    git branch -D $dist
-fi
-
-git checkout --orphan $dist 2>&1
-
-if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
-    echo "❌ ERROR: Failed to create branch $dist"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-git reset
 rm -rf .js
 npm run clean:multisrc
 npm run build:multisrc
 echo "Compiling TypeScript..."
 npx tsc --project tsconfig.production.json
-npm run build:manifest
-
-if [ ! -d ".dist" ] || [ -z "$(ls -A .dist)" ]; then
-    echo "❌ ERROR: Manifest generation failed - .dist is missing or empty"
-    exit 1
-fi
 
 # Copy plugins to legacy path (.js/src/plugins) for backward compatibility
 echo "Copying .js/plugins -> .js/src/plugins"
 mkdir -p .js/src
 cp -r .js/plugins .js/src/plugins
-git add -f public/static .dist .js/src/plugins total.svg
-git commit -m "chore: Publish Plugins"
-git push -f origin $dist 2>&1
+
+
+commit-to-target () {
+    
+    target=$1
+
+    echo "Publishing plugins: $current -> $target (v$version)"
+
+    # switch to target branch
+    exists=`git show-ref refs/heads/$target`
+
+    if [ -n "$exists" ]; then
+        git branch -D $target
+    fi
+
+    git checkout --orphan $target 2>&1
+
+    if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
+        echo "❌ ERROR: Failed to create branch $target"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    # The manifest needs to be built separately for each target branch,
+    # because the raw.githubusercontent.com URLs will be different
+    npm run build:manifest
+
+    if [ ! -d ".dist" ] || [ -z "$(ls -A .dist)" ]; then
+        echo "❌ ERROR: Manifest generation failed - .dist is missing or empty"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    # publish only the built files to the target branch
+    git reset
+    git add -f public/static .dist .js/src/plugins .js/plugins total.svg
+    git commit -m "chore: Publish Plugins"
+    git push -f origin $target 2>&1
+}
+
+
+commit-to-target "dist/$current"
+
+if [ "$current" == "master" ]; then
+    commit-to-target "plugins/v$version"
+fi
+
+# switch back
 git checkout -f $current 2>&1
 echo "✅ Published to $dist"