diff --git a/.github/workflows/sync-mailing-list-mirror.yml b/.github/workflows/sync-mailing-list-mirror.yml
index b08b856..618d154 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sync-mailing-list-mirror.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sync-mailing-list-mirror.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ jobs:
         set -x
         echo "org=${TARGET_GITHUB_REPOSITORY%%/*}" >>$GITHUB_OUTPUT &&
         echo "repo=${TARGET_GITHUB_REPOSITORY#*/}" >>$GITHUB_OUTPUT &&
+        test workflow_dispatch != '${{ github.event_name }}' || {
+          echo "result=true" >>$GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          exit 0
+        }
         source="$(git ls-remote "$SOURCE_REPOSITORY" master)" &&
         target="$(git ls-remote https://github.com/"$TARGET_GITHUB_REPOSITORY" lore-$LORE_EPOCH)" &&
         echo "result=$(test "${source%%	*}" = "${target%%	*}" && echo false || echo true)" >>$GITHUB_OUTPUT
@@ -51,4 +55,19 @@ jobs:
       env:
         GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.token.outputs.token }}
       run: |
-        git push https://$GITHUB_ACTOR:$GITHUB_TOKEN@github.com/$TARGET_GITHUB_REPOSITORY lore-$LORE_EPOCH
+        backoff=0
+        while (
+          git push https://$GITHUB_ACTOR:$GITHUB_TOKEN@github.com/$TARGET_GITHUB_REPOSITORY lore-$LORE_EPOCH;
+          echo $? >exit.code
+        ) 2>&1 | tee output.log; exit_code="$(cat exit.code)"; test 0 != "$exit_code" && grep 403 output.log
+        do
+          backoff=$(($backoff+1))
+          test 10 -gt $backoff || {
+            echo '::error::Failed too many times' >&2
+            exit $exit_code
+          }
+          printf '::warning::access token somehow not yet active; sleeping for %d seconds\nexit code: %s\n' \
+            $backoff $(cat exit.code)
+          sleep $backoff
+        done
+        exit $exit_code