diff --git a/packages/k8s/src/hooks/run-script-step.ts b/packages/k8s/src/hooks/run-script-step.ts
index d3a6626..2c1cb41 100644
--- a/packages/k8s/src/hooks/run-script-step.ts
+++ b/packages/k8s/src/hooks/run-script-step.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,20 @@ export async function runScriptStep(
   const runnerTemp = `${workdir}/_temp`
   const containerTemp = '/__w/_temp'
   const containerTempSrc = '/__w/_temp_pre'
-  // Stage runner temp inside container, then merge into /__w/_temp
+  // Ensure base and staging dirs exist before copying
+  try {
+    await execPodStep(
+      [
+        'sh',
+        '-c',
+        'mkdir -p /__w && mkdir -p /__w/_temp && mkdir -p /__w/_temp_pre'
+      ],
+      state.jobPod,
+      JOB_CONTAINER_NAME
+    )
+  } catch (err) {
+    core.debug(`Failed to create temp dirs in container: ${JSON.stringify(err)}`)
+  }
   await execCpToPod(state.jobPod, runnerTemp, containerTempSrc)
 
   // Copy GitHub directories from temp to /github
@@ -46,7 +59,7 @@ export async function runScriptStep(
 
   try {
     await execPodStep(
-      ['sh', '-c', shlex.quote(mergeCommands.join(' && '))],
+      ['sh', '-c', mergeCommands.join(' && ')],
       state.jobPod,
       JOB_CONTAINER_NAME
     )
diff --git a/packages/k8s/src/k8s/index.ts b/packages/k8s/src/k8s/index.ts
index 062dde4..ae773da 100644
--- a/packages/k8s/src/k8s/index.ts
+++ b/packages/k8s/src/k8s/index.ts
@@ -342,7 +342,6 @@ export async function execCalculateOutputHashSorted(
 
   const hash = createHash('sha256')
   hash.update(sortedOutput)
-  console.log(`sortedOutput: ${sortedOutput}`)
   return hash.digest('hex')
 }
 
@@ -371,7 +370,6 @@ export async function localCalculateOutputHashSorted(
 
         const hash = createHash('sha256')
         hash.update(sortedOutput)
-        console.log(`sortedOutput: ${sortedOutput}`)
         resolve(hash.digest('hex'))
       } else {
         reject(new Error(`child process exited with code ${code}`))
@@ -833,7 +831,7 @@ export async function isPodContainerAlpine(
       [
         'sh',
         '-c',
-        `'[ $(cat /etc/*release* | grep -i -e "^ID=*alpine*" -c) != 0 ] || exit 1'`
+        `[ $(cat /etc/*release* | grep -i -e "^ID=*alpine*" -c) != 0 ] || exit 1`
       ],
       podName,
       containerName
diff --git a/packages/k8s/src/k8s/utils.ts b/packages/k8s/src/k8s/utils.ts
index 9116919..ebb5a23 100644
--- a/packages/k8s/src/k8s/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/k8s/src/k8s/utils.ts
@@ -288,6 +288,11 @@ function mergeLists<T>(base?: T[], from?: T[]): T[] {
 }
 
 export function fixArgs(args: string[]): string[] {
+  // Preserve shell command strings passed via `sh -c` without re-tokenizing.
+  // Retokenizing would split the script into multiple args, breaking `sh -c`.
+  if (args.length >= 2 && args[0] === 'sh' && args[1] === '-c') {
+    return args
+  }
   return shlex.split(args.join(' '))
 }