diff --git a/.backportrc.json b/.backportrc.json
index e8f9fe059..58c70abd3 100644
--- a/.backportrc.json
+++ b/.backportrc.json
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     "^v9.6.0$": "main",
     "^v(\\d+).(\\d+).\\d+(?:-(?:alpha|beta|rc)\\d+)?$": "$1.$2"
   },
-  "copySourcePRLabels": "^(?!backport$)(?!v\\d).*$",
+  "copySourcePRLabels": "^(?!backport(?:-pending)?$)(?!auto-backport$)(?!v\\d).*$",
   "sourcePRLabels": [
     "backport-pending"
   ]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/backport.yml b/.github/workflows/backport.yml
index ff2f36f5f..65287d554 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backport.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backport.yml
@@ -139,11 +139,13 @@ jobs:
           steps.backport.outcome == 'success' &&
           contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'auto-backport')
         env:
+          # github-actions[bot] token: used to APPROVE the backport PRs (a distinct
+          # identity from the ephemeral-token author, so the approval counts).
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          # 'true' only when the ephemeral token was minted (Token Policy registered),
-          # i.e. the backport PRs were authored by the ephemeral-token app identity and
-          # can therefore be approved by github-actions[bot].
-          EPHEMERAL_AUTHORED: ${{ steps.ephemeral_token.outputs.token != '' }}
+          # The ephemeral App token (elastic-vault-github-plugin-prod[bot]) that authored
+          # the backport PRs, when it was minted (Token Policy registered). Empty on the
+          # fallback path. Used to ARM auto-merge — see the note below.
+          EPHEMERAL_TOKEN: ${{ steps.ephemeral_token.outputs.token }}
           REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
         run: |
           # Extract created PR numbers from the backport info log.
@@ -153,10 +155,25 @@ jobs:
             echo "No backport PRs found in log. Skipping approval."
             exit 0
           fi
+
+          # Choose the token that ARMS auto-merge. GitHub attributes a deferred auto-merge
+          # to whichever identity enabled it, and merges attributed to github-actions[bot]
+          # (i.e. GITHUB_TOKEN) do NOT trigger further workflows — GitHub's recursion guard.
+          # If we armed auto-merge with GITHUB_TOKEN, the merge would never fire the
+          # remove-backport-pending job, so backport-pending would stay stuck on the source
+          # PR (it had to be cleared by hand). Arming with the ephemeral App identity makes
+          # the eventual merge trigger that job normally. This is the same reason we don't
+          # arm auto-merge with GITHUB_TOKEN: events attributed to github-actions[bot] won't
+          # start this workflow on merge. Falls back to GITHUB_TOKEN when the ephemeral token is
+          # unavailable (Token Policy not registered) — in that degraded case cleanup still
+          # needs doing manually, but backports at least open and can be merged by a human.
+          MERGE_TOKEN="${EPHEMERAL_TOKEN:-$GH_TOKEN}"
+
           for pr in $PR_NUMBERS; do
-            if [ "$EPHEMERAL_AUTHORED" = "true" ]; then
+            if [ -n "$EPHEMERAL_TOKEN" ]; then
               # Authored by the ephemeral-token identity, so this github-actions[bot]
-              # approval is from a distinct identity and satisfies the required review.
+              # approval (via the step-level GH_TOKEN) is from a distinct identity and
+              # satisfies the required review.
               echo "Approving backport PR #$pr as github-actions[bot]"
               gh pr review "$pr" --repo "$REPO" --approve \
                 --body "Automated approval: clean backport of an already-reviewed change. Auto-merge is armed and will merge once the required CI checks are green." || \
@@ -165,12 +182,12 @@ jobs:
               echo "::warning::Ephemeral token was unavailable (is the backport Token Policy registered in elastic/catalog-info?); #$pr was authored by github-actions[bot], so it cannot be auto-approved and needs a manual approval. Auto-merge is still armed and will merge once approved and CI is green."
             fi
 
-            # Arm auto-merge (squash). This does NOT merge immediately: GitHub merges only
-            # once every required status check (including buildkite/ml-cpp-pr-builds) is
-            # green and the review requirement is satisfied. If CI never runs or fails, the
-            # PR simply stays open — fail-safe.
+            # Arm auto-merge (squash) as MERGE_TOKEN. This does NOT merge immediately:
+            # GitHub merges only once every required status check (including
+            # buildkite/ml-cpp-pr-builds) is green and the review requirement is satisfied.
+            # If CI never runs or fails, the PR simply stays open — fail-safe.
             echo "Enabling auto-merge (squash) on backport PR #$pr"
-            gh pr merge "$pr" --repo "$REPO" --auto --squash || \
+            GH_TOKEN="$MERGE_TOKEN" gh pr merge "$pr" --repo "$REPO" --auto --squash || \
               echo "::warning::Could not enable auto-merge on #$pr"
           done