diff --git a/scripts/cancel-all-ci-runs.sh b/scripts/cancel-all-ci-runs.sh
index 187c53f6..8ccbec24 100755
--- a/scripts/cancel-all-ci-runs.sh
+++ b/scripts/cancel-all-ci-runs.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
 
 # Check if gh is installed
 if ! command -v gh &> /dev/null
@@ -7,6 +8,18 @@ then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+# Allow override with REPO=owner/repo
+REPO="${REPO:-}"
+if [ -z "$REPO" ]; then
+  # try to discover the repo from the current git folder
+  REPO="$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  if [ -z "$REPO" ]; then
+    echo "Unable to determine repository. Either run this inside the repo or set REPO=owner/repo"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+
+echo "Repo: $REPO"
 echo "Fetching active runs..."
 
 # Function to cancel runs by status
@@ -14,14 +27,13 @@ cancel_runs() {
     local status=$1
     echo "Cancelling $status runs..."
     # Use --limit 1000 to capture up to 1000 runs (default is 30)
-    ids=$(gh run list --status "$status" --limit 1000 --json databaseId -q '.[].databaseId')
+    ids=$(gh run list --repo "$REPO" --status "$status" --limit 1000 --json databaseId -q '.[].databaseId')
 
     if [ -z "$ids" ]; then
         echo "No $status runs found."
     else
-        # Pass IDs to xargs to batch cancel commands
-        # gh run cancel accepts multiple arguments
-        echo "$ids" | xargs gh run cancel
+        # Call gh run cancel once per id (some gh versions accept only one id per call)
+        printf '%s\n' "$ids" | xargs -r -n1 -I{} gh run cancel --repo "$REPO" {}
     fi
 }