diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml b/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
index 3ce51eee..bc1554ae 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,24 @@ jobs:
             return;
           }
 
+          // only approve PRs with pom.xml and versions.txt changes
+          const filesPromise = github.pulls.listFiles.endpoint({
+            owner: context.repo.owner,
+            repo: context.repo.repo,
+            pull_number: context.payload.pull_request.number,
+          });
+          const changed_files = await github.paginate(filesPromise)
+
+          if ( changed_files.length < 1 ) {
+            console.log( "Not proceeding since PR is empty!" )
+            return;
+          }
+
+          if ( !changed_files.some(v => v.filename.includes("pom")) || !changed_files.some(v => v.filename.includes("versions.txt")) ) {
+            console.log( "PR file changes do not have pom.xml or versions.txt -- something is wrong. PTAL!" )
+            return;
+          }
+
           // trigger auto-release when
           // 1) it is a SNAPSHOT release (auto-generated post regular release)
           // 2) there are dependency updates only
diff --git a/synth.metadata b/synth.metadata
index 7c3242cb..209285b9 100644
--- a/synth.metadata
+++ b/synth.metadata
@@ -4,14 +4,14 @@
       "git": {
         "name": ".",
         "remote": "https://github.com/googleapis/java-shared-dependencies.git",
-        "sha": "79946122e194c67eac609e42ef73917c59c12daa"
+        "sha": "65fb72633254d79d47be4fb621856bc0b7a6a87a"
       }
     },
     {
       "git": {
         "name": "synthtool",
         "remote": "https://github.com/googleapis/synthtool.git",
-        "sha": "95dbe1bee3c7f7e52ddb24a54c37080620e0d1a2"
+        "sha": "da29da32b3a988457b49ae290112b74f14b713cc"
       }
     }
   ],