diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs-generate-html.yml b/.github/workflows/docs-generate-html.yml
index d3f2947..c77aee2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs-generate-html.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs-generate-html.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: "Generate HTML"
-run-name: "Generate HTML for ${{ inputs.dispatch-env }}"
+run-name: "Generate HTML from ${{ inputs.build-ref }}"
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -16,25 +16,48 @@ on:
         type: string
         required: true
       publish-env:
-        description: 'staging or prod - passed through to reusable-docs-build.yml, which uses it to resolve DOCS_PUBLISH_URL'
+        description: 'Override for dev/prod. Leave blank to derive it from build-ref against vars.DOCS_PROD_BRANCH - only needs setting explicitly when DOCS_DEV_BRANCH == DOCS_PROD_BRANCH, where build-ref alone cannot tell the two builds apart.'
         type: string
-        required: true
-      dispatch-env:
-        description: 'dev or prod - the environment label used for the docs-publish dispatch payload'
-        type: string
-        required: true
+        required: false
+        default: ''
 
 jobs:
 
+  # Resolves publish-env (dev/prod) once, so neither docs-build nor publish-html
+  # duplicates the override-or-derive logic.
+  resolve-env:
+    name: Resolve environment
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      publish-env: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.publish-env }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Resolve publish-env
+        id: resolve
+        env:
+          PUBLISH_ENV_OVERRIDE: ${{ inputs.publish-env }}
+          BUILD_REF: ${{ inputs.build-ref }}
+          PROD_BRANCH: ${{ vars.DOCS_PROD_BRANCH }}
+        run: |
+          if [[ -n "${PUBLISH_ENV_OVERRIDE}" ]]; then
+            publish_env="${PUBLISH_ENV_OVERRIDE}"
+          elif [[ "${BUILD_REF}" == "${PROD_BRANCH}" ]]; then
+            publish_env="prod"
+          else
+            publish_env="dev"
+          fi
+
+          echo "publish-env=${publish_env}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
   docs-build:
     name: Generate HTML
+    needs: resolve-env
     uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-docs-build.yml
     with:
       docs-dir: 'docs'
       package-script: 'verify:publish'
       build-ref: ${{ inputs.build-ref }}
       fetch-depth: 0
-      publish-env: ${{ inputs.publish-env }}
+      publish-env: ${{ needs.resolve-env.outputs.publish-env }}
 
   docs-verify:
     name: Verify HTML
@@ -42,4 +65,24 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable-docs-verify.yml
     with:
       failOnWarnings: true
-      
\ No newline at end of file
+
+  # Hand off to docs-publish (a separate repo) to actually publish this run's "docs"
+  # artifact.
+  publish-html:
+    name: Publish HTML
+    needs: [docs-verify, resolve-env]
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Publish to ${{ needs.resolve-env.outputs.publish-env }}
+        uses: peter-evans/repository-dispatch@28959ce8df70de7be546dd1250a005dd32156697 #v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.DOCS_DISPATCH_TOKEN }}
+          repository: neo4j/docs-publish
+          event-type: publish-html
+          client-payload: |-
+            {
+              "org": "${{ github.repository_owner }}",
+              "repo": "${{ github.event.repository.name }}",
+              "run_id": "${{ github.run_id }}",
+              "publish_env": "${{ needs.resolve-env.outputs.publish-env }}"
+            }
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/docs-publish.yml
index 812f17c..5a282c8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs-publish.yml
@@ -1,11 +1,32 @@
 name: "Publish docs"
 
+# This workflow's job is dispatching docs-generate-html.yml with the right build-ref(s)
+# for whatever just happened - it is NOT the only valid way to wire this up, and isn't
+# always the right choice.
+#
+# Use this (docs-publish.yml -> docs-generate-html.yml) when a single trigger might
+# legitimately need to build more than one environment - e.g. a manual "rebuild
+# everything" workflow_dispatch, or a repo where DOCS_DEV_BRANCH == DOCS_PROD_BRANCH (one
+# branch serving both, so every push to it always means both).
+#
+# If your repo instead has clean, separate dev/prod branches (e.g. dev and main), you
+# almost certainly do NOT want this: a commit to dev should only ever build staging, and
+# a commit to main should only ever build prod - never both from one commit, since
+# they're different content on different branches. For that shape, skip this file
+# entirely and give docs-generate-html.yml its own direct `on: push: branches: [...]`
+# trigger per environment instead (see docs-aura's docs-generate-html.yml for that
+# pattern) - simpler, and structurally can't build the wrong branch's content into the
+# wrong environment.
+
 permissions:
   contents: read
   actions: write
 
-# edit the list of branches according to your repository
-# the list of branches should contain all the branches in your Antora publish playbooks
+# Edit the branches list below to match your repository: it must be the union of every
+# branch listed in BOTH your staging and prod Antora publish.yml playbooks (content
+# sources' `branches`). prepare-ref-env's logic below assumes this - it doesn't inspect
+# the playbooks itself, it just trusts that if this workflow ran at all, the branch that
+# triggered it is a real content branch for at least one of the two environments.
 on:
   push:
     branches:
@@ -21,65 +42,81 @@ env:
 jobs:
 
   prepare-ref-env:
-    name: Set build branch and environments
+    name: Set builds to trigger
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     outputs:
-      build-ref: ${{ steps.set-ref-env.outputs.build-ref }}
-      environments: ${{ steps.set-ref-env.outputs.environments }}
+      # JSON array of {buildRef, publishEnv} - one entry per independent
+      # docs-generate-html.yml run to trigger. publishEnv is left '' except in the one
+      # case where it's genuinely ambiguous (see below) - docs-generate-html.yml derives
+      # it itself from build-ref against its own vars.DOCS_PROD_BRANCH whenever
+      # publishEnv is blank.
+      builds: ${{ steps.set-ref-env.outputs.builds }}
     steps:
-      - name: Set Build Ref
+      - name: Set builds
         id: set-ref-env
         run: |
           dev_branch="${{ env.DEV_BRANCH }}"
           prod_branch="${{ env.PROD_BRANCH }}"
 
+          # Rules:
+          # - No separate prod branch configured -> staging only, always (nothing to
+          #   double up).
+          # - DEV_BRANCH == PROD_BRANCH -> both, always (one branch serves both, so
+          #   there's no "the other one didn't change" case to worry about).
+          # - The triggering branch IS the dev branch -> staging only (a change on dev
+          #   has no bearing on prod's already-published content).
+          # - Anything else (including a push to the prod branch, or any other branch)
+          #   -> both. We deliberately don't try to be clever about only rebuilding
+          #   the one that "actually changed" - e.g. a branch that's fallen out of the
+          #   dev set but is still in the prod set would be misdetected either way, so
+          #   we just always rebuild everything except the one case (dev branch) we
+          #   know for certain doesn't affect prod.
           if [[ -z "${prod_branch}" ]]; then
-            build_from="${dev_branch}"
-            environments='["dev"]'
+            builds=$(jq -nc --arg dev "$dev_branch" \
+              '[{buildRef:$dev,publishEnv:""}]')
+          elif [[ "${dev_branch}" == "${prod_branch}" ]]; then
+            # build-ref alone can't distinguish these two - same branch - so publishEnv
+            # has to be passed explicitly here, or docs-generate-html.yml's derivation
+            # would resolve both to the same environment.
+            builds=$(jq -nc --arg b "$dev_branch" \
+              '[{buildRef:$b,publishEnv:"dev"},{buildRef:$b,publishEnv:"prod"}]')
           elif [[ "${GITHUB_REF}" == "refs/heads/${dev_branch}" ]]; then
-            build_from="${dev_branch}"
-            environments='["dev"]'
+            builds=$(jq -nc --arg dev "$dev_branch" \
+              '[{buildRef:$dev,publishEnv:""}]')
           else
-            build_from="${prod_branch}"
-            environments='["prod"]'
-          fi
-
-          if [[ -n "${prod_branch}" && "${dev_branch}" == "${prod_branch}" ]]; then
-            environments='["dev","prod"]'
+            builds=$(jq -nc --arg dev "$dev_branch" --arg prod "$prod_branch" \
+              '[{buildRef:$dev,publishEnv:""},{buildRef:$prod,publishEnv:""}]')
           fi
 
-          echo "build-ref=${build_from}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "environments=${environments}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "builds=${builds}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
-  # Trigger docs-generate-html.yml as its own separate run, once per environment that
-  # applies - not a workflow_call (which would keep both in this one run) - so dev and
-  # prod are fully independent runs: if dev's run fails, prod's run is unaffected, and
-  # each ends up with a plain "docs" artifact exactly like a run does today.
+  # Trigger docs-generate-html.yml as its own separate run, once per build - not a
+  # workflow_call (which would keep them all in this one run) - so each is fully
+  # independent: if one run fails, the others are unaffected, and each ends up with a
+  # plain "docs" artifact exactly like a run does today (no name collisions, since
+  # they're separate runs, not jobs sharing one run).
   trigger-generate-html:
-    name: Trigger per-environment builds
+    name: Trigger builds
     needs: prepare-ref-env
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - name: Dispatch docs-generate-html.yml for each environment
+      - name: Dispatch docs-generate-html.yml for each build
         uses: actions/github-script@ed597411d8f924073f98dfc5c65a23a2325f34cd # v8
         env:
-          BUILD_REF: ${{ needs.prepare-ref-env.outputs.build-ref }}
-          ENVIRONMENTS: ${{ needs.prepare-ref-env.outputs.environments }}
+          BUILDS: ${{ needs.prepare-ref-env.outputs.builds }}
           DISPATCH_REF: ${{ github.ref_name }}
         with:
           script: |
-            const environments = JSON.parse(process.env.ENVIRONMENTS)
-            const publishEnvFor = { dev: 'staging', prod: 'prod' }
-            for (const dispatchEnv of environments) {
+            const builds = JSON.parse(process.env.BUILDS)
+            for (const build of builds) {
               await github.rest.actions.createWorkflowDispatch({
                 owner: context.repo.owner,
                 repo: context.repo.repo,
                 workflow_id: 'docs-generate-html.yml',
                 ref: process.env.DISPATCH_REF,
                 inputs: {
-                  'build-ref': process.env.BUILD_REF,
-                  'publish-env': publishEnvFor[dispatchEnv],
-                  'dispatch-env': dispatchEnv,
+                  'build-ref': build.buildRef,
+                  'publish-env': build.publishEnv,
                 },
               })
             }
diff --git a/.github/workflows/reusable-docs-build.yml b/.github/workflows/reusable-docs-build.yml
index a19e05c..077a766 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/reusable-docs-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/reusable-docs-build.yml
@@ -37,10 +37,10 @@ on:
         type: string
         default: 'verify:preview'
       publish-env:
-        description: "The publish environment to build docs for: staging or prod"
+        description: "The publish environment to build docs for: dev or prod"
         required: false
         type: string
-        default: 'staging'
+        default: 'dev'
       antora-attributes:
         description: 'Antora attributes to pass to the build script'
         required: false
@@ -157,15 +157,15 @@ jobs:
       # sandbox right now.
       #
       # Resolved once here, not duplicated at each use: ANTORA_CLI_OPTIONS and
-      # DOCS_NAV_URL both need the staging-vs-prod split, but they read it via
+      # DOCS_NAV_URL both need the dev-vs-prod split, but they read it via
       # env.DOCS_PUBLISH_URL from the "Run package script" step's own env: block
       # below rather than from here directly - a step's env CAN reference an
       # already-resolved job-level env var, but two entries in this same job-level
       # env: block can't reference each other (this one included), so they can't be
       # defined here alongside it.
-      DOCS_PUBLISH_URL: "${{ inputs.publish-env == 'staging' && 'https://development.neo4j.dev/docs/sandbox/restructure/docs' || 'https://neo4j.com/docs' }}"
+      DOCS_PUBLISH_URL: "${{ inputs.publish-env == 'dev' && 'https://development.neo4j.dev/docs/sandbox/restructure/docs' || 'https://neo4j.com/docs' }}"
       ANTORA_UI_BUNDLE_URL: "${{ inputs.package-script == 'verify:publish' && 'https://static-content.neo4j.com/build/ui-bundle-docs-restructure.zip'|| inputs.antora-ui-bundle-url }}"
-      # page-no-local-manifest: staging/prod never serve local-manifest.json (that's a
+      # page-no-local-manifest: dev/prod never serve local-manifest.json (that's a
       # local-dev-only file - see the tabbed-nav extension's emitLocalManifest option and
       # its middleware). Stamped so the UI bundle can skip fetching it there entirely,
       # rather than issuing a request that's guaranteed to 404.
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ jobs:
         # extra place to look, so those extensions can still find hoisted deps (e.g. vinyl) that are
         # only installed under docs/node_modules.
         NODE_PATH: ${{ github.workspace }}/${{ env.DOCS_DIR }}/node_modules
-        # Both derive the staging/prod split from the single env.DOCS_PUBLISH_URL set
+        # Both derive the dev/prod split from the single env.DOCS_PUBLISH_URL set
         # at job level above - defined here, not there, because that's a job-level
         # env: block and this one can read it; two entries in the SAME block can't
         # read each other. Everything else - including PR previews - derives the