diff --git a/.github/workflows/stainless-builds.yml b/.github/workflows/stainless-builds.yml
index a18c70887d..28869fdd81 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/stainless-builds.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/stainless-builds.yml
@@ -43,35 +43,27 @@ env:
   #   Stainless organization dashboard
 
 jobs:
-  preview:
-    if: github.event.action != 'closed'
+  compute-branch:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    permissions:
-      contents: read
-      pull-requests: write
+    outputs:
+      preview_branch: ${{ steps.compute.outputs.preview_branch }}
+      base_branch: ${{ steps.compute.outputs.base_branch }}
+      merge_branch: ${{ steps.compute.outputs.merge_branch }}
     steps:
-      # Checkout the PR's code to access the OpenAPI spec and config files.
-      # This is necessary to read the spec/config from the PR (including from forks).
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
-        with:
-          repository: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}
-          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
-          fetch-depth: 2
-
-      # Compute the Stainless branch name, prefixing with fork owner if PR is from a fork.
-      # For fork PRs like "contributor:fix/issue-123", this creates "preview/contributor/fix/issue-123"
-      # For same-repo PRs, this creates "preview/fix/issue-123"
       - name: Compute branch names
-        id: branch-names
+        id: compute
         run: |
           HEAD_REPO="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}"
           BASE_REPO="${{ github.repository }}"
           BRANCH_NAME="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}"
+          FORK_OWNER="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.owner.login }}"
 
           if [ "$HEAD_REPO" != "$BASE_REPO" ]; then
             # Fork PR: prefix with fork owner for isolation
-            FORK_OWNER="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.owner.login }}"
+            if [ -z "$FORK_OWNER" ]; then
+              echo "Error: Fork PR detected but fork owner is empty" >&2
+              exit 1
+            fi
             PREVIEW_BRANCH="preview/${FORK_OWNER}/${BRANCH_NAME}"
             BASE_BRANCH="preview/base/${FORK_OWNER}/${BRANCH_NAME}"
           else
@@ -82,9 +74,25 @@ jobs:
 
           echo "preview_branch=${PREVIEW_BRANCH}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           echo "base_branch=${BASE_BRANCH}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "merge_branch=${PREVIEW_BRANCH}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+  preview:
+    needs: compute-branch
+    if: github.event.action != 'closed'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      pull-requests: write
+    steps:
+      # Checkout the PR's code to access the OpenAPI spec and config files.
+      # This is necessary to read the spec/config from the PR (including from forks).
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
+        with:
+          repository: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}
+          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
+          fetch-depth: 2
 
-      # This action builds preview SDKs from the OpenAPI spec changes and
-      # posts/updates a comment on the PR with build results and links to the preview.
       - name: Run preview builds
         uses: stainless-api/upload-openapi-spec-action/preview@32823b096b4319c53ee948d702d9052873af485f # 1.6.0
         with:
@@ -97,10 +105,11 @@ jobs:
           base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
           base_ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}
           head_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
-          branch: ${{ steps.branch-names.outputs.preview_branch }}
-          base_branch: ${{ steps.branch-names.outputs.base_branch }}
+          branch: ${{ needs.compute-branch.outputs.preview_branch }}
+          base_branch: ${{ needs.compute-branch.outputs.base_branch }}
 
   merge:
+    needs: compute-branch
     if: github.event.action == 'closed' && github.event.pull_request.merged == true
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
@@ -116,27 +125,6 @@ jobs:
           ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
           fetch-depth: 2
 
-      # Compute the Stainless branch name, prefixing with fork owner if PR is from a fork.
-      # For fork PRs like "contributor:fix/issue-123", this creates "preview/contributor/fix/issue-123"
-      # For same-repo PRs, this creates "preview/fix/issue-123"
-      - name: Compute branch names
-        id: branch-names
-        run: |
-          HEAD_REPO="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}"
-          BASE_REPO="${{ github.repository }}"
-          BRANCH_NAME="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}"
-
-          if [ "$HEAD_REPO" != "$BASE_REPO" ]; then
-            # Fork PR: prefix with fork owner for isolation
-            FORK_OWNER="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.owner.login }}"
-            MERGE_BRANCH="preview/${FORK_OWNER}/${BRANCH_NAME}"
-          else
-            # Same-repo PR
-            MERGE_BRANCH="preview/${BRANCH_NAME}"
-          fi
-
-          echo "merge_branch=${MERGE_BRANCH}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-
       # Note that this only merges in changes that happened on the last build on
       # the computed preview branch. It's possible that there are OAS/config
       # changes that haven't been built, if the preview job didn't finish
@@ -155,4 +143,4 @@ jobs:
           base_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
           base_ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}
           head_sha: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
-          merge_branch: ${{ steps.branch-names.outputs.merge_branch }}
+          merge_branch: ${{ needs.compute-branch.outputs.merge_branch }}