diff --git a/tools/document/validate_site_docs.sh b/tools/document/validate_site_docs.sh
index 3bb8ae728..c99c8784c 100755
--- a/tools/document/validate_site_docs.sh
+++ b/tools/document/validate_site_docs.sh
@@ -121,9 +121,9 @@ for cluster in ephemeral target; do
                 # step 1: actually apply all crds in the phase
                 # TODO: will need to loop through phases in order, eventually
                 # e.g., load CRDs from initinfra first, so they're present when validating later phases
-                ${ACTL} phase render ${phase} -k CustomResourceDefinition > ${TMP}/crds.yaml
-                if [ -s ${TMP}/crds.yaml ]; then
-                    ${KUBECTL} --context ${CONTEXT} --kubeconfig ${KUBECONFIG} apply -f ${TMP}/crds.yaml
+                ${ACTL} phase render ${phase} -k CustomResourceDefinition > ${TMP}/${phase}-crds.yaml
+                if [ -s ${TMP}/${phase}-crds.yaml ]; then
+                    ${KUBECTL} --context ${CONTEXT} --kubeconfig ${KUBECONFIG} apply -f ${TMP}/${phase}-crds.yaml
                 fi
 
                 # step 2: dry-run the entire phase