diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
index 3b2ced4..ecc250a 100644
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Please provide a brief description of the changes included in this PR.
 ## Release
 
 - **Changelog type**: `feat` (minor bump), `fix`, `perf` or `revert` (patch bump), or none (`chore`, `docs`, `style`, `refactor`, `test`, `build`, `ci`). See "Commit types" in the README.
-- **Breaking change?**: yes / no. If yes, add `!` to the title (`feat!:`) and list what sites or other repos must change.
+- **Breaking change?**: yes / no. If yes, add `!` to the title (`feat!:`). For a merge or rebase merge, also add `!` to a breaking commit subject. List what sites or other repos must change.
 
 ## Additional context
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/commits.yml b/.github/workflows/commits.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 4391314..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/commits.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-name: commits
-
-# release-please builds versions and the changelog from commit subjects, so
-# every commit must be a conventional commit.
-on: [push, pull_request]
-
-permissions:
-  contents: read
-
-jobs:
-  build:
-    name: conventional
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
-
-      - uses: webiny/action-conventional-commits@8bc41ff4e7d423d56fa4905f6ff79209a78776c7 # v1.3.0
-        with:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          # Same types as pr-title.yml. The action's default also allows wip and
-          # merge, which release-please ignores. Git's own "Merge ..." and
-          # "Revert ..." messages are always allowed.
-          allowed-commit-types: "feat,fix,docs,style,refactor,test,build,perf,ci,chore,revert"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/conventional-commits.yml b/.github/workflows/conventional-commits.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c78aa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/conventional-commits.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Every commit on a branch must be a conventional commit: release-please builds
+# versions and the changelog from commit subjects. Merge commits are skipped.
+# Same check as the other UnlockEd repos (see docs/repo-standard.md in
+# unlocked-core).
+name: conventional commits
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, edited]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  commits:
+    name: conventional commits
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Check commit subjects
+        env:
+          BASE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
+          HEAD: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          # the loop reads git log through process substitution, so a bad range would pass silently
+          git rev-list "$BASE..$HEAD" > /dev/null
+          pattern='^(feat|fix|chore|docs|refactor|test|ci|build|perf|revert|style)(\([a-z0-9._/-]+\))?!?: .+'
+          bad=0
+          while IFS= read -r subject; do
+            if ! printf '%s' "$subject" | grep -Eq "$pattern"; then
+              echo "::error::not a conventional commit: $subject"
+              if [[ $subject == 'Revert "'* ]]; then
+                inner=${subject#Revert \"}
+                echo "::error::reword it to: revert: ${inner%\"}"
+              fi
+              bad=1
+            fi
+          done < <(git log --no-merges --format=%s "$BASE..$HEAD")
+          exit $bad
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml
index 6775f1a..7396d2e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
-name: PR title
-
 # Squash and merge lands a multi-commit PR on main under its title, so the
-# title must be a conventional commit too (commits.yml checks the commits).
+# title must be a conventional commit too. The "conventional commits" job in
+# conventional-commits.yml checks the commits; keep the two patterns in sync. Same check as
+# the other UnlockEd repos (see docs/repo-standard.md in unlocked-core).
+name: pr title
+
 on:
   pull_request:
     types: [opened, edited, reopened, synchronize]
@@ -22,5 +24,9 @@ jobs:
           pattern='^(feat|fix|chore|docs|refactor|test|ci|build|perf|revert|style)(\([a-z0-9._/-]+\))?!?: .+'
           if ! printf '%s' "$TITLE" | grep -Eq "$pattern"; then
             echo "::error::PR title is not a conventional commit: $TITLE"
+            if [[ $TITLE == 'Revert "'* ]]; then
+              inner=${TITLE#Revert \"}
+              echo "::error::rename the PR to: revert: ${inner%\"}"
+            fi
             exit 1
           fi
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7235678..89f3b41 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ Postgres refuses anything else.
 3. Merge that PR when you want a release. It tags `vX.Y.Z`, and CI pushes
    `:X.Y.Z` to ECR.
 
-The `conventional` and `pr title` checks allow `feat`, `fix`, `perf`,
+The `conventional commits` and `pr title` checks allow `feat`, `fix`, `perf`,
 `revert`, `chore`, `docs`, `style`, `refactor`, `test`, `build` and `ci`. A
 `!` after the type marks a breaking change.