diff --git a/scripts/create_pr_gitea.sh b/scripts/create_pr_gitea.sh
index 70d8502..937fceb 100755
--- a/scripts/create_pr_gitea.sh
+++ b/scripts/create_pr_gitea.sh
@@ -12,20 +12,31 @@ git add pyproject.toml poetry.lock
 git commit -m "chore: update dependencies $(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
 git push "https://oauth2:${CI_TOKEN}@${CI_SERVER_URL#https://}/${REPO}.git" "$BRANCH"
 
-DESCRIPTION=$(cat "$SUMMARY_FILE")
+# build the entire JSON payload in Python to avoid shell escaping issues
+PAYLOAD=$(python3 - <<EOF
+import json, sys
+
+with open("${SUMMARY_FILE}") as f:
+    description = f.read()
+
+payload = {
+    "head": "${BRANCH}",
+    "base": "main",
+    "title": "chore: dependency updates $(date +%Y-%m-%d)",
+    "body": description,
+    "assignees": [${ASSIGNEE_ID}],
+}
+
+print(json.dumps(payload))
+EOF
+)
 
 HTTP_RESPONSE=$(curl --silent --show-error \
     --write-out "HTTPSTATUS:%{http_code}" \
     --request POST \
     --header "Authorization: token ${CI_TOKEN}" \
     --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
-    --data "{
-        \"head\": \"${BRANCH}\",
-        \"base\": \"main\",
-        \"title\": \"chore: dependency updates $(date +%Y-%m-%d)\",
-        \"body\": $(echo "$DESCRIPTION" | python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.dumps(sys.stdin.read()))'),
-        \"assignee\": "${CI_ASSIGNEE_ID}"
-    }" \
+    --data "$PAYLOAD" \
     "${CI_SERVER_URL}/api/v1/repos/${REPO}/pulls")
 
 HTTP_BODY=$(echo "$HTTP_RESPONSE" | sed -e 's/HTTPSTATUS:.*//g')