diff --git a/.changeset/silly-plums-travel.md b/.changeset/silly-plums-travel.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8f93774f13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/silly-plums-travel.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/git-resolver": minor
+---
+
+It should be possible to install a Git-hosted dependency that names the default branch not "master".
diff --git a/packages/git-resolver/src/index.ts b/packages/git-resolver/src/index.ts
index 3c40fec202..f81da62e38 100644
--- a/packages/git-resolver/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/git-resolver/src/index.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export default function (
     if (parsedSpec == null) return null
 
     const pref = parsedSpec.gitCommittish == null || parsedSpec.gitCommittish === ''
-      ? 'master'
+      ? 'HEAD'
       : parsedSpec.gitCommittish
     const commit = await resolveRef(parsedSpec.fetchSpec, pref, parsedSpec.gitRange)
     let resolution
@@ -58,16 +58,17 @@ function resolveVTags (vTags: string[], range: string) {
 }
 
 async function getRepoRefs (repo: string, ref: string | null) {
-  const gitArgs = ['ls-remote', '--refs', repo]
+  const gitArgs = [repo]
+  if (ref !== 'HEAD') {
+    gitArgs.unshift('--refs')
+  }
   if (ref) {
     gitArgs.push(ref)
   }
   // graceful-git by default retries 10 times, reduce to single retry
-  const result = await git(gitArgs, { retries: 1 })
+  const result = await git(['ls-remote', ...gitArgs], { retries: 1 })
   const refs = result.stdout.split('\n').reduce((obj: object, line: string) => {
-    const commitAndRef = line.split('\t')
-    const commit = commitAndRef[0]
-    const refName = commitAndRef[1]
+    const [commit, refName] = line.split('\t')
     obj[refName] = commit
     return obj
   }, {})
diff --git a/packages/git-resolver/test/index.ts b/packages/git-resolver/test/index.ts
index 48f50716ca..9efe1ffad1 100644
--- a/packages/git-resolver/test/index.ts
+++ b/packages/git-resolver/test/index.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,18 @@ test('resolveFromGit() with no commit', async () => {
   }
 })
 
+test('resolveFromGit() with no commit, when main branch is not master', async () => {
+  const resolveResult = await resolveFromGit({ pref: 'zoli-forks/cmd-shim' })
+  expect(resolveResult).toStrictEqual({
+    id: 'github.com/zoli-forks/cmd-shim/a00a83a1593edb6e395d3ce41f2ef70edf7e2cf5',
+    normalizedPref: 'github:zoli-forks/cmd-shim',
+    resolution: {
+      tarball: 'https://codeload.github.com/zoli-forks/cmd-shim/tar.gz/a00a83a1593edb6e395d3ce41f2ef70edf7e2cf5',
+    },
+    resolvedVia: 'git-repository',
+  })
+})
+
 test('resolveFromGit() with branch', async () => {
   const resolveResult = await resolveFromGit({ pref: 'zkochan/is-negative#canary' })
   expect(resolveResult).toStrictEqual({
@@ -353,10 +365,10 @@ aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa\trefs/heads/master\
   })
   const resolveResult = await resolveFromGit({ pref: 'git+https://0000000000000000000000000000000000000000:x-oauth-basic@github.com/foo/bar.git' })
   expect(resolveResult).toStrictEqual({
-    id: '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000+x-oauth-basic@github.com/foo/bar/aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa',
+    id: '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000+x-oauth-basic@github.com/foo/bar/0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
     normalizedPref: 'git+https://0000000000000000000000000000000000000000:x-oauth-basic@github.com/foo/bar.git',
     resolution: {
-      commit: 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa',
+      commit: '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000',
       repo: 'https://0000000000000000000000000000000000000000:x-oauth-basic@github.com/foo/bar.git',
       type: 'git',
     },