diff --git a/internal/git/git.go b/internal/git/git.go
index 09fd5c9..128f94c 100644
--- a/internal/git/git.go
+++ b/internal/git/git.go
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	remoteName = "origin"
+	remoteName         = "origin"
+	newFilePermissions = 0o644
 )
 
 type Commit struct {
@@ -97,13 +98,18 @@ func (r *Repository) Checkout(_ context.Context, branch string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (r *Repository) UpdateFile(_ context.Context, path string, updaters []updater.Updater) error {
+func (r *Repository) UpdateFile(_ context.Context, path string, create bool, updaters []updater.Updater) error {
 	worktree, err := r.r.Worktree()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	file, err := worktree.Filesystem.OpenFile(path, os.O_RDWR, 0)
+	fileFlags := os.O_RDWR
+	if create {
+		fileFlags |= os.O_CREATE
+	}
+
+	file, err := worktree.Filesystem.OpenFile(path, fileFlags, newFilePermissions)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/releaserpleaser.go b/releaserpleaser.go
index 2b1754f..0b1b846 100644
--- a/releaserpleaser.go
+++ b/releaserpleaser.go
@@ -253,14 +253,14 @@ func (rp *ReleaserPleaser) runReconcileReleasePR(ctx context.Context) error {
 	// Info for updaters
 	info := updater.ReleaseInfo{Version: nextVersion, ChangelogEntry: changelogEntry}
 
-	err = repo.UpdateFile(ctx, updater.ChangelogFile, updater.WithInfo(info, updater.Changelog))
+	err = repo.UpdateFile(ctx, updater.ChangelogFile, true, updater.WithInfo(info, updater.Changelog))
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to update changelog file: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	for _, path := range rp.extraFiles {
 		// TODO: Check for missing files
-		err = repo.UpdateFile(ctx, path, updater.WithInfo(info, rp.updaters...))
+		err = repo.UpdateFile(ctx, path, false, updater.WithInfo(info, rp.updaters...))
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to run file updater: %w", err)
 		}