diff --git a/.github/workflows/migrate-staging-database.yml b/.github/workflows/migrate-staging-database.yml
index c817d255..8cdcb46c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/migrate-staging-database.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/migrate-staging-database.yml
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           }
           payload="$(jq -cn --arg deploy_sha "$DEPLOY_SHA" \
-            '{ref:"main",inputs:{deploy_sha:$deploy_sha,allow_rollback:"false"}}')"
+            '{ref:"staging",inputs:{deploy_sha:$deploy_sha,allow_rollback:"false"}}')"
           curl --fail --silent --show-error --request POST \
             --header "Authorization: Bearer $GH_TOKEN" \
             --header "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
diff --git a/frontend/tests/staging-backend-workflows.test.ts b/frontend/tests/staging-backend-workflows.test.ts
index 423e4db3..cfd09f09 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/staging-backend-workflows.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/tests/staging-backend-workflows.test.ts
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ test("staging owns its deployment control plane independently from main", () =>
   for (const workflow of [read(deployWorkflow), read(migrationWorkflow)]) {
     assert.match(workflow, /name: Checkout staging controller[\s\S]*ref: staging/);
     assert.match(workflow, /fetch-depth: 0/);
-    assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /ref: main/);
+    assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /ref:\s*"?main"?/);
     assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /reviewed main history/);
     assert.match(workflow, /--include='\/deploy\/' --include='\/deploy\/\*\*\*' --exclude='\*'/);
     assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /ref: \$\{\{ steps\.revision\.outputs\.sha \}\}/);
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ test("automatic staging paths reject stale and divergent revisions", () => {
   assert.match(deployment, /\.status == "ahead" and \.merge_base_commit\.sha == \$base/);
   assert.match(migration, /stale staging migration refused/);
   assert.match(migration, /staging advanced during migration; refusing stale deployment dispatch/);
-  assert.match(migration, /\{ref:"main",inputs:\{deploy_sha:\$deploy_sha,allow_rollback:"false"\}\}/);
+  assert.match(migration, /\{ref:"staging",inputs:\{deploy_sha:\$deploy_sha,allow_rollback:"false"\}\}/);
 });
 
 test("remote deployment verifies running image IDs, RepoDigests, and application SHA", () => {