diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5dc44bcb4..cb624afa0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+- Fixed issue where searching for refs/heads/<default_branch> would return no matches. [#809](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/809)
+
 ## [4.10.19] - 2026-01-28
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/repoIndexManager.ts b/packages/backend/src/repoIndexManager.ts
index 8e499863a..154b3da26 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/repoIndexManager.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/repoIndexManager.ts
@@ -397,7 +397,12 @@ export class RepoIndexManager {
             path: repoPath,
         });
 
-        let revisions = defaultBranch ? [defaultBranch] : ['HEAD'];
+        // Ensure defaultBranch has refs/heads/ prefix for consistent searching
+        const defaultBranchWithPrefix = defaultBranch && !defaultBranch.startsWith('refs/')
+            ? `refs/heads/${defaultBranch}`
+            : defaultBranch;
+
+        let revisions = defaultBranchWithPrefix ? [defaultBranchWithPrefix] : ['HEAD'];
 
         if (metadata.branches) {
             const branchGlobs = metadata.branches
@@ -427,6 +432,9 @@ export class RepoIndexManager {
             ];
         }
 
+        // De-duplicate revisions to ensure we don't have duplicate branches/tags
+        revisions = [...new Set(revisions)];
+
         // zoekt has a limit of 64 branches/tags to index.
         if (revisions.length > 64) {
             logger.warn(`Too many revisions (${revisions.length}) for repo ${repo.id}, truncating to 64`);