diff --git a/pull-docs.sh b/pull-docs.sh
index afe8fce85..b8850530a 100755
--- a/pull-docs.sh
+++ b/pull-docs.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# We may extend this to also push changes in the other direction, but this is the most important step.
-git subtree pull --prefix=docs/ https://github.com/gohugoio/hugoDocs.git master --squash
+HUGO_DOCS_BRANCH="${HUGO_DOCS_BRANCH-master}"
+
+# We may extend this to also push changes in the other direction, but this is the most important step.
+git subtree pull --prefix=docs/ https://github.com/gohugoio/hugoDocs.git ${HUGO_DOCS_BRANCH} --squash