diff --git a/docs.md b/docs.md
index 3734163..f75dcf0 100644
--- a/docs.md
+++ b/docs.md
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ clone:
 | `home`                    |                                     | Change HOME var for commands executed, fail if it does not exist                                                                        |
 | `remote`                  | $CI_REPO_CLONE_URL                  | Set the git remote url                                                                                                                  |
 | `remote-ssh`              | $CI_REPO_CLONE_SSH_URL              | Set the git SSH remote url                                                                                                              |
-| `sha`                     | $CI_COMMIT_SHA                      | git commit hash to retrieve (use `sha: ''` to clone the `ref`)                                                                          |
-| `ref`                     | $CI_COMMIT_REF                      | Set the git reference to retrieve (use `ref: refs/heads/a_branch` and `sha: ''` to retrieve the head commit from the "a_branch" branch) |
+| `sha`                     | $CI_COMMIT_SHA                      | git commit hash to retrieve                                                                                                             |
+| `ref`                     | _none_                              | Set the git reference to retrieve                                                                                                       |
 | `path`                    | $CI_WORKSPACE                       | Set destination path to clone to                                                                                                        |
 | `use-ssh`                 | `false`                             | Clone using SSH                                                                                                                         |
 | `ssh-key`                 | _none_                              | SSH key for SSH clone                                                                                                                   |
diff --git a/flags.go b/flags.go
index 234a93b..8e17706 100644
--- a/flags.go
+++ b/flags.go
@@ -29,9 +29,8 @@ var globalFlags = []cli.Flag{
 	},
 	&cli.StringFlag{
 		Name:    "ref",
-		Value:   "refs/heads/master",
 		Usage:   "git commit ref",
-		EnvVars: []string{"PLUGIN_REF", "CI_COMMIT_REF"},
+		EnvVars: []string{"PLUGIN_REF"},
 	},
 	&cli.StringFlag{
 		Name:    "event",
diff --git a/plugin.go b/plugin.go
index 0664c51..23be46b 100644
--- a/plugin.go
+++ b/plugin.go
@@ -76,9 +76,9 @@ func (p Plugin) Exec() error {
 
 	}
 
-	if p.Pipeline.Commit == "" {
+	if p.Pipeline.Ref != "" {
 		// fetch and checkout by ref
-		fmt.Println("no commit information: using head checkout")
+		fmt.Println("using head checkout")
 		cmds = append(cmds, fetch(p.Pipeline.Ref, p.Config.Tags, p.Config.Depth, p.Config.filter))
 		cmds = append(cmds, checkoutHead())
 	} else {
diff --git a/plugin_test.go b/plugin_test.go
index c86a297..1eaee6a 100644
--- a/plugin_test.go
+++ b/plugin_test.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		event:  "push",
 		branch: "master",
 		commit: "553c2077f0edc3d5dc5d17262f6aa498e69d6f8e",
-		ref:    "refs/heads/master",
+		ref:    "",
 		file:   "README",
 		data:   "Hello World!",
 	},
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		event:  "push",
 		branch: "master",
 		commit: "7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
-		ref:    "refs/heads/master",
+		ref:    "",
 		file:   "README",
 		data:   "Hello World!\n",
 	},
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		event:  "pull_request",
 		branch: "master",
 		commit: "762941318ee16e59dabbacb1b4049eec22f0d303",
-		ref:    "refs/pull/6/merge",
+		ref:    "",
 		file:   "README",
 		data:   "Hello World!\n",
 	},
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		event:  "push",
 		branch: "test",
 		commit: "b3cbd5bbd7e81436d2eee04537ea2b4c0cad4cdf",
-		ref:    "refs/heads/test",
+		ref:    "",
 		file:   "CONTRIBUTING.md",
 		data:   "## Contributing\n",
 	},
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		event:  "tag",
 		branch: "master",
 		commit: "bf68d60215a167c935bc5976b7d06a7ffb290926",
-		ref:    "refs/tags/v1.17",
+		ref:    "",
 		file:   ".gitignore",
 		data:   "*.swp\n*~\n.rake_tasks~\nhtml\ndoc\npkg\npublish\ncoverage\n",
 	},
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		event:     "push",
 		branch:    "main",
 		commit:    "cc020eb6aaa601c13ca7b0d5db9d1ca694e7a003",
-		ref:       "refs/heads/main",
+		ref:       "",
 		file:      "Hello-World/README",
 		data:      "Hello World!\n",
 		recursive: true,
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		clone:    "https://github.com/test-assets/woodpecker-git-test-lfs.git",
 		event:    "push",
 		commit:   "69d4dadb4c2899efb73c0095bb58a6454d133cef",
-		ref:      "refs/heads/main",
+		ref:      "",
 		file:     "4M.bin",
 		dataSize: 132,
 	},
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ var commits = []struct {
 		clone:    "https://github.com/test-assets/woodpecker-git-test-lfs.git",
 		event:    "push",
 		commit:   "69d4dadb4c2899efb73c0095bb58a6454d133cef",
-		ref:      "refs/heads/main",
+		ref:      "",
 		file:     "4M.bin",
 		dataSize: 4194304,
 		lfs:      true,