diff --git a/.github/pull_request_template.md b/.github/pull_request_template.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a1c8ac..0000000
--- a/.github/pull_request_template.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-#### Rationale
-<!-- Rationale describing why this pull request is needed, what behavior it's adding/changing/removing, etc. (replace this comment) -->
-
-#### Related Pull Requests
-* <!-- list of links to related pull requests (replace this comment) -->
-
-#### Changes
-* <!-- list of descriptions of changes that are worth noting (replace this comment) -->
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9f11b75..28e25b7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 .idea/
+.claude/
diff --git a/branch-release/branch_release.sh b/branch-release/branch_release.sh
index 24d08c3..d933eaf 100755
--- a/branch-release/branch_release.sh
+++ b/branch-release/branch_release.sh
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ else
 		FF_BRANCH="${RELEASE_NUM}_ff_bot_${TAG}"
 		if $SERVER_REPO; then
 			# Merging changes from SNAPSHOT to release branch
-			if ! git checkout -b "$FF_BRANCH" --no-track origin/"$RELEASE_BRANCH" || ! git merge --no-commit "$GITHUB_SHA"; then
+			if ! git checkout -b "$FF_BRANCH" --no-track origin/"$RELEASE_BRANCH" || ! git merge -Xtheirs --no-commit "$GITHUB_SHA"; then
 				echo "Failed to create branch: ${FF_BRANCH}" >&2
 				exit 1
 			fi