diff --git a/.github/workflows/dependabot-automerge.yml b/.github/workflows/dependabot-automerge.yml
index f6622a5..873696e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dependabot-automerge.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dependabot-automerge.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
   cancel-in-progress: false
 permissions:
-  contents: write # needed to enable auto-merge
+  contents: read # needed to enable auto-merge
   pull-requests: write # needed to approve
   # NB: keep narrow — do NOT add secrets: read or id-token: write here.
 jobs: