diff --git a/.kokoro/readme.sh b/.kokoro/readme.sh
index 4e7f7657..035aee5d 100755
--- a/.kokoro/readme.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/readme.sh
@@ -28,9 +28,18 @@ echo "https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}:@github.com" >> ~/.git-credentials
 git config --global credential.helper 'store --file ~/.git-credentials'
 
 python3.6 -m pip install git+https://github.com/googleapis/synthtool.git#egg=gcp-synthtool
+
+set +e
 python3.6 -m autosynth.synth \
     --repository=googleapis/java-billing \
     --synth-file-name=.github/readme/synth.py \
     --metadata-path=.github/readme/synth.metadata \
     --pr-title="chore: regenerate README" \
-    --branch-suffix="readme"
\ No newline at end of file
+    --branch-suffix="readme"
+
+# autosynth returns 28 to signal there are no changes
+RETURN_CODE=$?
+if [[ ${RETURN_CODE} -ne 0 && ${RETURN_CODE} -ne 28 ]]
+then
+    exit ${RETURN_CODE}
+fi
diff --git a/synth.metadata b/synth.metadata
index 31ec09c3..0016b7b5 100644
--- a/synth.metadata
+++ b/synth.metadata
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
       "git": {
         "name": ".",
         "remote": "https://github.com/googleapis/java-billing.git",
-        "sha": "b6ffe7695a9595d857b19096e1d63820d20e5958"
+        "sha": "6b71670ab99f4194589df3222bfab6b5c20890c2"
       }
     },
     {
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
       "git": {
         "name": "synthtool",
         "remote": "https://github.com/googleapis/synthtool.git",
-        "sha": "c7824ea48ff6d4d42dfae0849aec8a85acd90bd9"
+        "sha": "7db8a6c5ffb12a6e4c2f799c18f00f7f3d60e279"
       }
     }
   ],