diff --git a/.github/workflows/mirror_noir_subrepo.yml b/.github/workflows/mirror_noir_subrepo.yml
index e4c0a47ccbd..7d8cb1ed5b7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/mirror_noir_subrepo.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/mirror_noir_subrepo.yml
@@ -39,6 +39,33 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
           token: ${{ secrets.AZTEC_BOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
+
+      - name: Setup env
+        run: |
+          set -xue # print commands
+          # Enable gh executable. We spread out the API requests between the github actions bot token, and aztecbot
+          export GH_TOKEN="${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
+          # Do we have a PR active?
+          PR_URL=$(gh pr list --repo noir-lang/noir --head aztec-packages --json url --jq ".[0].url")
+          echo "PR_URL=$PR_URL" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+          # compute_commit_message: Create a filtered git log for release-please changelog / metadata
+          function compute_commit_message() {
+            # Get the last sync PR's last commit state
+            LAST_MERGED_PR_HASH=`gh pr list --repo=noir-lang/noir --state merged --head aztec-packages --json headRefOid --jq=.[0].headRefOid`
+            # Use a commit heuristic where we look at when .gitrepo first started to look at that commit state (through a push)
+            COMMIT_HEURISTIC=$(git log -p -S"$LAST_MERGED_PR_HASH" --reverse --source --  noir/.gitrepo | grep -m 1 '^commit'  | awk '{print $2}' || true)
+            if [[ " $COMMIT_HEURISTIC" = "" ]] ; then
+              # It it fails, just use our gitrepo parent commit (last time we pushed or pulled)
+              COMMIT_HEURISTIC=$BASE_AZTEC_COMMIT
+            fi
+            # Create a filtered git log for release-please changelog / metadata
+            RAW_MESSAGE=$(git log --pretty=format:"%s" $COMMIT_HEURISTIC..HEAD -- noir/  ':!noir/.gitrepo' | grep -v 'git subrepo' || true)
+            # Fix Aztec PR links and output message
+            echo "$RAW_MESSAGE" | sed -E 's/\(#([0-9]+)\)/(https:\/\/github.com\/AztecProtocol\/aztec-packages\/pull\/\1)/g'
+          }
+          echo "$(compute_commit_message)" >> .COMMIT_MESSAGE
+
       # We push using git subrepo (https://github.com/ingydotnet/git-subrepo)
       # and push all Aztec commits as a single commit with metadata.
       - name: Push to branch
@@ -48,47 +75,70 @@ jobs:
           export GH_TOKEN="${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
           SUBREPO_PATH=noir
           BRANCH=aztec-packages
+          if [[ "$PR_URL" == "" ]]; then
+            # if no staging branch, we can overwrite
+            STAGING_BRANCH=$BRANCH
+          else 
+            # otherwise we first reset our staging branch
+            STAGING_BRANCH=$BRANCH-staging
+          fi
           # identify ourselves, needed to commit
           git config --global user.name AztecBot
           git config --global user.email tech@aztecprotocol.com
           BASE_NOIR_COMMIT=`git config --file=noir/.gitrepo subrepo.commit`
           BASE_AZTEC_COMMIT=`git config --file=noir/.gitrepo subrepo.parent`
-          # Fix PR branch
+
+          # clone noir repo for manipulations, we use aztec bot token for writeability
           git clone https://x-access-token:${{ secrets.AZTEC_BOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/noir-lang/noir.git noir-repo
-          cd noir-repo
-          git checkout $BRANCH || git checkout -b $BRANCH
-          git reset --hard "$BASE_NOIR_COMMIT"
-          # Reset our branch to our expected target
-          git push origin $BRANCH --force
-          cd ..
-          # Get the last sync PR's last commit state
-          LAST_MERGED_PR_HASH=`gh pr list --repo=noir-lang/noir --state merged --head aztec-packages  --json headRefOid --jq=.[0].headRefOid`
-          # Use a commit heuristic where we look at when .gitrepo first started to look at that commit state (through a push)
-          COMMIT_HEURISTIC=$(git log -p -S"$LAST_MERGED_PR_HASH" --reverse --source --  noir/.gitrepo | grep -m 1 '^commit'  | awk '{print $2}' || true)
-          if [[ " $COMMIT_HEURISTIC" = "" ]] ; then
-            # It it fails, just use our gitrepo parent commit (last time we pushed or pulled)
-            COMMIT_HEURISTIC=$BASE_AZTEC_COMMIT
-          fi
-          # Create a filtered git log for release-please changelog / metadata
-          MESSAGE=$(git log --pretty=format:"%s" $COMMIT_HEURISTIC..HEAD -- noir/  ':!noir/.gitrepo' | grep -v 'git subrepo' || true)
-          # Fix Aztec PR links
-          MESSAGE=$(echo "$MESSAGE" | sed -E 's/\(#([0-9]+)\)/(https:\/\/github.com\/AztecProtocol\/aztec-packages\/pull\/\1)/g')
-          git commit --allow-empty -m"chore: Sync to noir-lang/noir" -m"$MESSAGE"
-          COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
-          # Now push to it with subrepo with computed commit messages
-          if ./scripts/git_subrepo.sh push $SUBREPO_PATH --squash --branch=$BRANCH; then
-            git reset $COMMIT
-            git commit --amend -am "$(git log -1 --pretty=%B) [skip ci]"
-            git push
-          else
-            echo "Problems syncing noir. We may need to pull the subrepo."
-            exit 1
+
+          # reset_pr: Reset aztec-packages staging. If no PR, this is the PR branch.
+          function reset_noir_staging_branch() {
+            cd noir-repo
+            git checkout $STAGING_BRANCH || git checkout -b $STAGING_BRANCH
+            git reset --hard "$BASE_NOIR_COMMIT"
+            # Reset our branch to our expected target
+            git push origin $STAGING_BRANCH --force
+            cd ..
+          }
+          # force_sync_staging: Push to our aztec-packages staging branch.
+          function force_sync_staging() {
+            MESSAGE=$(cat .COMMIT_MESSAGE)
+            git commit --allow-empty -m"chore: Sync to noir-lang/noir" -m"$MESSAGE"
+            COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+            # Now push to it with subrepo with computed commit messages
+            if ./scripts/git-subrepo/lib/git-subrepo push $SUBREPO_PATH --squash --branch=$STAGING_BRANCH; then
+              git reset $COMMIT
+              git commit --allow-empty --amend -am "$(git log -1 --pretty=%B) [skip ci]"
+              git push
+            else
+              echo "Problems syncing noir. We may need to pull the subrepo."
+              exit 1
+            fi
+          }
+          # merge_staging_branch: Merge our staging branch into aztec-packages.
+          function merge_staging_branch() {
+            # Fix PR branch
+            cd noir-repo
+            git fetch # see recent change
+            git checkout $BRANCH || git checkout -b $BRANCH
+            git merge -Xtheirs $STAGING_BRANCH
+            git push origin $BRANCH
+            cd ..
+          }
+          reset_noir_staging_branch
+          force_sync_staging
+          if [[ "$PR_URL" != "" ]]; then
+            merge_staging_branch
           fi
+
+      - name: Update PR
+        run: |
+          set -xue # print commands
+          MESSAGE=$(cat .COMMIT_MESSAGE)
           # Formatted for updating the PR, overrides for release-please commit message parsing 
           PR_BODY="""BEGIN_COMMIT_OVERRIDE
           $MESSAGE
           END_COMMIT_OVERRIDE"""
-          PR_URL=$(gh pr list --repo noir-lang/noir --head aztec-packages --json url --jq ".[0].url")
           # for cross-opening PR in noir repo, we use aztecbot's token
           export GH_TOKEN=${{ secrets.AZTEC_BOT_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           if [[ "$PR_URL" == "" ]]; then