diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 8e0217fd..f83a7c0c 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
   exportVariable,
   getIDToken,
   getInput,
+  saveState,
   setFailed,
   setOutput,
   setSecret,
@@ -203,6 +204,9 @@ export async function run(logger: Logger) {
         // GOOGLE_GHA_CREDS_PATH is used by other Google GitHub Actions.
         exportVariable('GOOGLE_GHA_CREDS_PATH', credentialsPath);
       }
+
+      // Save the credentials file path to state for cleanup in the post action.
+      saveState('credentials_file_path', credentialsPath);
     }
 
     // Set the project ID environment variables to the computed values.
diff --git a/src/post.ts b/src/post.ts
index 0d162a5f..7189ab79 100644
--- a/src/post.ts
+++ b/src/post.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 // limitations under the License.
 
-import { getInput, setFailed } from '@actions/core';
+import { getInput, getState, setFailed } from '@actions/core';
 
 import { errorMessage, forceRemove, parseBoolean } from '@google-github-actions/actions-utils';
 
@@ -32,13 +32,12 @@ export async function run(logger: Logger) {
       return;
     }
 
-    // Look up the credentials path, if one exists. Note that we only check the
-    // environment variable set by our action, since we don't want to
-    // accidentally clean up if someone set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS or
-    // another environment variable manually.
-    const credentialsPath = process.env['GOOGLE_GHA_CREDS_PATH'];
+    // Look up the credentials path from the state saved by the main action.
+    // We use state instead of environment variables to avoid accidentally
+    // cleaning up credentials that were set manually by the user.
+    const credentialsPath = getState('credentials_file_path');
     if (!credentialsPath) {
-      logger.info(`Skipping credential cleanup - $GOOGLE_GHA_CREDS_PATH is not set.`);
+      logger.info(`Skipping credential cleanup - credentials file path is not set.`);
       return;
     }