diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci_docs.yml b/.github/workflows/ci_docs.yml
index 06c7debb426..fb9dfe4fe47 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci_docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci_docs.yml
@@ -1,16 +1,15 @@
-# Build and deploy documentation
+# Build and deploy documentation.
 #
 # This workflow builds the documentation on Linux/macOS/Windows.
 #
-# It is run on every commit to the main and pull request branches, and also
-# when a new release is published.
-# In draft pull requests, only the job on Linux is triggered to save on
-# Continuous Integration resources.
+# It is run on every commit to the main and pull request branches, and also when a new
+# release is published. In draft pull requests, only the job on Linux is triggered to
+# save on Continuous Integration resources.
 #
 # On the main branch, the workflow also handles the documentation deployment:
 #
-# * Updating the development documentation by pushing the built HTML pages
-#   from the main branch onto the dev folder of the gh-pages branch.
+# * Updating the development documentation by pushing the built HTML pages from the main
+#   branch onto the dev folder of the gh-pages branch.
 # * Updating the latest documentation link to the new release.
 #
 name: Docs
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@ concurrency:
   cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.ref != 'refs/heads/main' }}
 
 jobs:
-  docs:
+  build-docs:
     name: ${{ matrix.os }}
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     if: github.repository == 'GenericMappingTools/pygmt'
@@ -139,6 +138,27 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build the documentation
         run: make -C doc clean all
 
+      - name: Upload HMTL documentation artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4.5.0
+        with:
+          name: pygmt-docs-html
+          path: doc/_build/html/
+        if: matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest'
+
+  deploy-docs:
+    name: Deploy documentation
+    needs: build-docs
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: (github.event_name == 'release' || github.event_name == 'push') && github.repository == 'GenericMappingTools/pygmt'
+
+    steps:
+      # Checkout current git repository
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4.2.2
+        with:
+          # fetch all history so that setuptools-scm works
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
       - name: Checkout the gh-pages branch
         uses: actions/checkout@v4.2.2
         with:
@@ -147,7 +167,12 @@ jobs:
           path: deploy
           # Download the entire history
           fetch-depth: 0
-        if: (github.event_name == 'release' || github.event_name == 'push') && (matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest')
+
+      - name: Download HTML documentation artifact
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4.1.8
+        with:
+          name: pygmt-docs-html
+          path: pygmt-docs-html
 
       - name: Push the built HTML to gh-pages
         run: |
@@ -159,10 +184,10 @@ jobs:
               version=dev
           fi
           echo "Deploying version: $version"
-          # Make the new commit message. Needs to happen before cd into deploy
-          # to get the right commit hash.
+          # Make the new commit message. Needs to happen before cd into deploy to get
+          # the right commit hash.
           message="Deploy $version from $(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
-          cd deploy
+          cd deploy/
           # Create some files in the root directory.
           # .nojekyll: Need to have this file so that GitHub doesn't try to run Jekyll
           touch .nojekyll
@@ -174,7 +199,7 @@ jobs:
           echo -e "\nRemoving old files from previous builds of ${version}:"
           rm -rvf ${version}
           echo -e "\nCopying HTML files to ${version}:"
-          cp -Rvf ../doc/_build/html/ ${version}/
+          cp -Rvf ../pygmt-docs-html/ ${version}/
           # If this is a new release, update the link from /latest to it
           if [[ "${version}" != "dev" ]]; then
               echo -e "\nSetup link from ${version} to 'latest'."
@@ -188,9 +213,8 @@ jobs:
           # Configure git to be the GitHub Actions account
           git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          # If this is a dev build and the last commit was from a dev build
-          # (detect if "dev" was in the previous commit message), reuse the
-          # same commit
+          # If this is a dev build and the last commit was from a dev build (detect if
+          # "dev" was in the previous commit message), reuse the same commit.
           if [[ "${version}" == "dev" && `git log -1 --format='%s'` == *"dev"* ]]; then
               echo -e "\nAmending last commit:"
               git commit --amend --reset-author -m "$message"
@@ -198,9 +222,8 @@ jobs:
               echo -e "\nMaking a new commit:"
               git commit -m "$message"
           fi
-          # Make the push quiet just in case there is anything that could leak
-          # sensitive information.
+          # Make the push quiet just in case there is anything that could leak sensitive
+          # information.
           echo -e "\nPushing changes to gh-pages."
           git push -fq origin gh-pages 2>&1 >/dev/null
           echo -e "\nFinished uploading generated files."
-        if: (github.event_name == 'release' || github.event_name == 'push') && (matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest')