diff --git a/ssh-deploy/action.yaml b/ssh-deploy/action.yaml
index d907e2d..7d17106 100644
--- a/ssh-deploy/action.yaml
+++ b/ssh-deploy/action.yaml
@@ -111,78 +111,36 @@ runs:
           echo "Compose files: ${COMPOSE_FILES}"
         fi
 
-        # Optional tag override (Docker-only). When `image` is set, pin every
-        # compose service whose image base matches `image` to `image_tag`.
-        # We generate a remote override file (layered on the compose files via
-        # -f, later wins) so the deploy pulls/starts exactly the requested tag.
-        # The override is built on the runner (simple shell) then scp'd to the
-        # remote, avoiding fragile quoting inside an SSH command.
-        OVERRIDE_FLAGS=""
+        # Optional tag replacement in compose files on the remote.
+        # When `image` is set, find the files and replace the tag directly in them.
         if [ -n "${OVERRIDE_IMAGE}" ] && [ "${OVERRIDE_IMAGE// }" != "" ]; then
           if [ -z "${OVERRIDE_TAG}" ] || [ "${OVERRIDE_TAG// }" = "" ]; then
             echo "::error::image is set but image_tag is empty. Provide image_tag (defaults to latest)."
             exit 1
           fi
-          echo "Pinning image ${OVERRIDE_IMAGE} to tag :${OVERRIDE_TAG}"
+          echo "Replacing image ${OVERRIDE_IMAGE} tag with :${OVERRIDE_TAG} in remote compose files"
+
+          # Escape image name for sed
+          ESC_IMAGE=$(echo "${OVERRIDE_IMAGE}" | sed 's/[.[\*^$()|?+]/\\&/g')
+          SED_EXPR="s@(image:[[:space:]]*${ESC_IMAGE})(:[^[:space:]]*)?([[:space:]]|\$)@\1:${OVERRIDE_TAG}\3@g"
+
+          # Determine which files to modify on the remote host
+          if [ -n "${COMPOSE_FILES}" ] && [ "${COMPOSE_FILES// }" != "" ]; then
+            # If explicit files are specified, modify those
+            REMOTE_COMMAND=""
+            for f in ${COMPOSE_FILES}; do
+              REMOTE_COMMAND="${REMOTE_COMMAND} sed -E -i \"${SED_EXPR}\" '${REMOTE_DIR}/${f}';"
+            done
+          else
+            # Otherwise, find all yml/yaml files in remote_dir and run sed on them
+            REMOTE_COMMAND="find '${REMOTE_DIR}' -maxdepth 1 \( -name '*.yml' -o -name '*.yaml' \) -exec sed -E -i \"${SED_EXPR}\" {} \+;"
+          fi
 
-          # 1) Fetch the merged remote compose config to the runner.
           ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_deploy \
             -p "${SSH_PORT}" \
             -o StrictHostKeyChecking=yes \
             "${SSH_USERNAME}@${SSH_HOST}" \
-            "cd '${REMOTE_DIR}' && docker compose ${COMPOSE_FLAGS} config" \
-            > /tmp/ssh-deploy-remote.yml
-
-          # 2) Emit a minimal override: only matching services, retagged.
-          awk -v img="${OVERRIDE_IMAGE}" -v tag="${OVERRIDE_TAG}" '
-            /^services:/ { s=1; next }
-            s && /^  [A-Za-z0-9_-]+:/ { svc=$1; sub(/:$/, "", svc); next }
-            s && /^    image:/ {
-              val=$0; sub(/^    image:[ \t]*/, "", val)
-              last_slash = 0
-              for (i = length(val); i > 0; i--) {
-                if (substr(val, i, 1) == "/") {
-                  last_slash = i
-                  break
-                }
-              }
-              last_colon = 0
-              for (i = length(val); i > 0; i--) {
-                if (substr(val, i, 1) == ":") {
-                  last_colon = i
-                  break
-                }
-              }
-              if (last_colon > last_slash) {
-                b = substr(val, 1, last_colon - 1)
-              } else {
-                b = val
-              }
-              if (b == img) {
-                out = out sprintf("  %s:\n    image: %s:%s\n", svc, img, tag)
-                count++
-              }
-            }
-            END {
-              if (count > 0) {
-                print "services:"
-                printf "%s", out
-              }
-            }
-          ' /tmp/ssh-deploy-remote.yml > /tmp/ssh-deploy-override.yml
-
-          if [ ! -s /tmp/ssh-deploy-override.yml ]; then
-            echo "::warning::No compose service uses image base '${OVERRIDE_IMAGE}'. Deploying without override."
-          else
-            # 3) Push the override to /tmp on the remote (not into remote_dir,
-            # so future tag-less deploys don't inherit a stale pinned tag).
-            scp -i ~/.ssh/id_deploy \
-              -P "${SSH_PORT}" \
-              -o StrictHostKeyChecking=yes \
-              /tmp/ssh-deploy-override.yml \
-              "${SSH_USERNAME}@${SSH_HOST}:/tmp/.ssh-deploy-override.yml"
-            OVERRIDE_FLAGS="-f /tmp/.ssh-deploy-override.yml"
-          fi
+            "${REMOTE_COMMAND}"
         fi
 
         ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_deploy \
@@ -190,5 +148,5 @@ runs:
           -o StrictHostKeyChecking=yes \
           "${SSH_USERNAME}@${SSH_HOST}" \
           "cd '${REMOTE_DIR}' \
-            && docker compose ${COMPOSE_FLAGS} ${OVERRIDE_FLAGS} pull \
-            && docker compose ${COMPOSE_FLAGS} ${OVERRIDE_FLAGS} up -d --force-recreate"
+            && docker compose ${COMPOSE_FLAGS} pull \
+            && docker compose ${COMPOSE_FLAGS} up -d --force-recreate"