diff --git a/.github/workflows/api-breaking-changes.yml b/.github/workflows/api-breaking-changes.yml
index fbe4764a9f..406205d578 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/api-breaking-changes.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/api-breaking-changes.yml
@@ -20,8 +20,13 @@ jobs:
         with:
           egress-policy: audit
 
-      - name: checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11 # v4.1.1
+      - uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11 # v4.1.1
+        with:
+          # Fetch the commit that's merged into the base rather than the target ref
+          # This will let us diff only the contents of the PR, without fetching more history
+          ref: 'refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/merge'
+      - name: fetch base
+        run: git fetch --depth 1 origin ${{ github.base_ref }}
 
       - name: setup-node
         uses: actions/setup-node@60edb5dd545a775178f52524783378180af0d1f8 # v4.0.2