diff --git a/build-docs.sh b/build-docs.sh
index 1bf8fb112..cc81cd47d 100755
--- a/build-docs.sh
+++ b/build-docs.sh
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@ fi
 cargo build -p taskchampion-cli --features usage-docs --bin usage-docs
 
 # create a worktree of this repo, with the `gh-pages` branch checked out
-git branch -D gh-pages 2>/dev/null || true
-git checkout -b gh-pages $REMOTE/gh-pages
+git branch -f gh-pages $REMOTE/gh-pages
 if ! [ -d ./docs/tmp ]; then
     git worktree add docs/tmp gh-pages
 fi