diff --git a/contrib/source-control-tools/automated-commits.sh b/contrib/source-control-tools/automated-commits.sh
--- a/contrib/source-control-tools/automated-commits.sh
+++ b/contrib/source-control-tools/automated-commits.sh
@@ -1,41 +1,24 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-# Note: Any bot running this script must have the appropriate permissions to
-# push commits upstream. When running locally, this script will git push in a
-# dry run by default.
-
 export LC_ALL=C.UTF-8
 
 set -euxo pipefail
 
-DEFAULT_PARENT_COMMIT="origin/master"
-
 help_message() {
-  set +x
-  echo "Generate a commit from available recipes."
-  echo
-  echo "Options:"
-  echo "-p, --parent              The parent commit to build ontop of. Default: '${DEFAULT_PARENT_COMMIT}'"
-  echo "                            Note: This should only be used for testing since the behavior of setting"
-  echo "                            this to a particular commit varies slightly from the default."
-  echo "-h, --help                Display this help message."
-  echo
-  echo "Environment Variables:"
-  echo "COMMIT_TYPE               (required) The commit recipe to run."
-  echo "DRY_RUN                   If set to 'no', this script will push the generated changes upstream. Default: 'yes'"
-  set -x
-}
+  cat <<EOF
+Generate a commit from available recipes.
 
-PARENT_COMMIT="${DEFAULT_PARENT_COMMIT}"
+Options:
+  -h, --help                Display this help message.
+
+Environment Variables:
+  COMMIT_TYPE               (required) The commit recipe to run.
+EOF
+}
 
 # Parse command line arguments
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
 case $1 in
-  -p|--parent)
-    PARENT_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse "$2")
-    shift # shift past argument
-    shift # shift past value
-    ;;
   -h|--help)
     help_message
     exit 0
@@ -54,18 +37,11 @@
   exit 2
 fi
 
-GIT_PUSH_OPTIONS=("--verbose")
-case ${DRY_RUN:=yes} in
-  no|NO|false|FALSE)
-    if [ "${PARENT_COMMIT}" != "${DEFAULT_PARENT_COMMIT}" ]; then
-      echo "Error: Running with DRY_RUN=no on a commit parent other than '${DEFAULT_PARENT_COMMIT}'"
-      exit 3
-    fi
-    ;;
-  *)
-    GIT_PUSH_OPTIONS+=("--dry-run")
-    ;;
-esac
+# Make sure tree is clean
+if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
+  echo "Error: The source tree has unexpected changes. Clean up any changes (try 'git stash') and try again."
+  exit 10
+fi
 
 echo "Building automated commit '${COMMIT_TYPE}'..."
 
@@ -78,10 +54,6 @@
 
 DEVTOOLS_DIR="${TOPLEVEL}"/contrib/devtools
 
-# Make sure tree is clean
-git checkout master
-git reset --hard "${PARENT_COMMIT}"
-
 # Common script to update the AUR packages.
 # Usage: update-aur-version <package_name>
 update-aur-version() {
@@ -236,15 +208,3 @@
     exit 10
     ;;
 esac
-
-# Smoke tests to give some confidence that master won't be put into a bad state
-"${DEVTOOLS_DIR}"/smoke-tests.sh
-
-echo "Pushing automated commit '${COMMIT_TYPE}'..."
-
-# Make sure master is up-to-date. If there is a merge conflict, this script
-# will not attempt to resolve it and simply fail.
-git fetch origin master
-git rebase "${PARENT_COMMIT}"
-
-git push "${GIT_PUSH_OPTIONS[@]}" origin master