diff --git a/.github/workflows/update-currencies.yml b/.github/workflows/update-currencies.yml
index 1b08a4bc..2a17e300 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update-currencies.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update-currencies.yml
@@ -4,97 +4,71 @@ on:
   push:
     branches:
       - main
+  workflow_dispatch:
 
 jobs:
   update-currencies:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      # 1) Pull down code
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
 
-      - name: Set up Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
+      # 2) Install Python + cache dependencies
+      - name: Set up Python 3.8
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
         with:
           python-version: '3.8'
+          cache: 'pip'
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
           pip install requests
 
-      - name: Run currency fetch script
+      # 3) Run your update script
+      - name: Fetch & write currencies.json
         run: python .github/scripts/update_currencies.py
 
-      - name: Check for changes
-        id: check_changes
+      # 4) Detect both “any changes” and “is it an empty array?”
+      - name: Check for meaningful updates
+        id: detect
         run: |
-          if [[ $(git status --porcelain) ]]; then
-            echo "Changes detected."
-            echo "changes=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          # any git-tracked changes?
+          if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
+            echo "changes=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           else
-            echo "No changes detected."
-            echo "changes=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+            echo "changes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           fi
 
-      - name: Delete existing update-currencies branch
-        run: |
-          if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/heads/update-currencies; then
-            git branch -D update-currencies
-            echo "Deleted existing update-currencies branch."
-          else
-            echo "No existing update-currencies branch to delete."
-          fi
+          # are we looking at an empty JSON array?
+          empty=$(python - << 'PYCODE'
+import json
+data = json.load(open('backend/internal/core/currencies/currencies.json'))
+print("true" if not data else "false")
+PYCODE
+)
+          echo "empty=$empty" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
-      - name: Create new update-currencies branch
-        if: env.changes == 'true'
-        run: |
-          git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+      # 5) Only if we have changes AND the file isn’t just `[]`, open a PR
+      - name: Create or update Pull Request
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.changes == 'true' && steps.detect.outputs.empty == 'false'
+        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v5
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          branch: update-currencies
+          base: main
+          title: "Update currencies.json"
+          body: |
+            This PR was opened automatically by our GitHub Action.
+          commit-message: "chore: update currencies.json"
+          path: backend/internal/core/currencies/currencies.json
+          committer: GitHub Actions <actions@github.com>
 
-          # Create a new branch
-          git checkout -b update-currencies
-          git add backend/internal/core/currencies/currencies.json
-          git commit -m "Update currencies.json"
-
-          # Fetch the latest changes from the remote
-          git fetch origin
-
-          # Attempt to rebase with the latest changes
-          if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/origin/update-currencies; then
-            if ! git rebase origin/update-currencies; then
-              echo "Rebase conflicts occurred. Please resolve them manually."
-              echo "To resolve conflicts, check out the 'update-currencies' branch locally."
-              exit 1
-            fi
-          else
-            echo "No existing remote branch 'update-currencies'. Skipping rebase."
-          fi
-
-          # Push the new branch to the remote
-          if ! git push --set-upstream origin update-currencies; then
-            echo "Push failed, trying to fetch and rebase again."
-            git fetch origin
-            if git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/origin/update-currencies; then
-              if ! git rebase origin/update-currencies; then
-                echo "Second rebase failed. Please resolve manually."
-                exit 1
-              fi
-            else
-              echo "No existing remote branch 'update-currencies'. Skipping rebase."
-            fi
-            if ! git push --set-upstream origin update-currencies; then
-              echo "Second push failed. Please resolve manually."
-              exit 1
-            fi
-          fi
-
-          # Create a pull request
-          curl -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
-               -X POST \
-               -d '{"title": "Update currencies", "head": "update-currencies", "base": "main"}' \
-               https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/pulls
-
-      - name: Notify no changes
-        if: env.changes == 'false'
-        run: echo "Currencies up-to-date with API, skipping commit."
+      # 6) Otherwise, just log and exit
+      - name: No update required
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.changes == 'false' || steps.detect.outputs.empty == 'true'
+        run: echo "No meaningful currency updates found (either no changes or got an empty array). Skipping PR."