diff --git a/cascading-pr.sh b/cascading-pr.sh
index b7457ee..d14d6a8 100755
--- a/cascading-pr.sh
+++ b/cascading-pr.sh
@@ -42,7 +42,13 @@ function upsert_branch() {
 	log_info "branch ${options[destination_head]} already exists"
 	return
     fi
-    repo_curl ${options[destination_repo]} api_json --data-raw '{"new_branch_name":"'${options[destination_head]}'","old_branch_name":"'${options[destination_base]}'"}' ${options[destination_api]}/branches
+    cat > $TMPDIR/data <<EOF
+{
+  "new_branch_name":"${options[destination_head]}",
+  "old_branch_name":"${options[destination_base]}"
+}
+EOF
+    repo_curl ${options[destination_repo]} api_json --data @$TMPDIR/data ${options[destination_api]}/branches
     log_info "branch ${options[destination_head]} created"
 }
 
@@ -58,7 +64,14 @@ function upsert_pr() {
 	return
     fi
     local title=$(pr_destination_title)
-    retry repo_curl ${options[destination_repo]} api_json --data-raw '{"title":"'"$title"'","base":"'${options[destination_base]}'","head":"'${options[destination_head]}'"}' ${options[destination_api]}/pulls > $TMPDIR/destination-pr.json
+    cat > $TMPDIR/data <<EOF
+{
+  "title":"$title",
+  "base":"${options[destination_base]}",
+  "head":"${options[destination_head]}"
+}
+EOF
+    retry repo_curl ${options[destination_repo]} api_json --data @$TMPDIR/data ${options[destination_api]}/pulls > $TMPDIR/destination-pr.json
     log_info "PR created $(pr_url destination)"
 }
 
@@ -68,7 +81,7 @@ function close_pr() {
     if test "$(pr_state ${direction})" = "open"; then
 	log_info "closing $(pr_url ${direction})"
 	local number=$(pr_number $direction)
-	repo_curl ${options[${direction}_repo]} api_json -X PATCH --data-raw '{"state":"closed"}' ${options[${direction}_api]}/issues/$number
+	repo_curl ${options[${direction}_repo]} api_json -X PATCH --data '{"state":"closed"}' ${options[${direction}_api]}/issues/$number
 	delete_branch $(pr_head ${direction})
     else
 	log_info "no open PR found"