diff --git a/packages/backend/src/gitea.ts b/packages/backend/src/gitea.ts
index 831d38a6..2d58003c 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/gitea.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/gitea.ts
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ export const getGiteaReposFromConfig = async (config: GiteaConfig, ctx: AppConte
                 id: repoId,
                 cloneUrl: cloneUrl.toString(),
                 path: repoPath,
+                defaultBranch: repo.default_branch,
                 isStale: false,
                 isFork: repo.fork!,
                 isArchived: !!repo.archived,
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/github.ts b/packages/backend/src/github.ts
index 15f4b05a..3373d967 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/github.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/github.ts
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ type OctokitRepository = {
     subscribers_count?: number,
     forks_count?: number,
     archived?: boolean,
+    default_branch?: string,
     topics?: string[],
-    size?: number,
+    size?: number
 }
 
 export const getGitHubReposFromConfig = async (config: GitHubConfig, signal: AbortSignal, ctx: AppContext) => {
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ export const getGitHubReposFromConfig = async (config: GitHubConfig, signal: Abo
                 id: repoId,
                 cloneUrl: cloneUrl.toString(),
                 path: repoPath,
+                defaultBranch: repo.default_branch,
                 isStale: false,
                 isFork: repo.fork,
                 isArchived: !!repo.archived,
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/gitlab.ts b/packages/backend/src/gitlab.ts
index b586f023..bfec6c81 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/gitlab.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/gitlab.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ export const getGitLabReposFromConfig = async (config: GitLabConfig, ctx: AppCon
                 cloneUrl: cloneUrl.toString(),
                 path: repoPath,
                 isStale: false,
+                defaultBranch: project.default_branch,
                 isFork,
                 isArchived: project.archived,
                 topics: project.topics ?? [],
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/main.ts b/packages/backend/src/main.ts
index 21076965..a09081ee 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/main.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { AppContext, LocalRepository, GitRepository, Repository, Settings } from
 import { cloneRepository, fetchRepository, getGitRepoFromConfig } from "./git.js";
 import { createLogger } from "./logger.js";
 import { createRepository, Database, loadDB, updateRepository, updateSettings } from './db.js';
-import { arraysEqualShallow, isRemotePath, measure } from "./utils.js";
+import { arraysEqualShallow, stringsEqualFalseySafe, isRemotePath, measure } from "./utils.js";
 import { DEFAULT_SETTINGS } from "./constants.js";
 import stripJsonComments from 'strip-json-comments';
 import { indexGitRepository, indexLocalRepository } from "./zoekt.js";
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@ export const isRepoReindexingRequired = (previous: Repository, current: Reposito
 
         return (
             !arraysEqualShallow(previous.branches, current.branches) ||
-            !arraysEqualShallow(previous.tags, current.tags)
+            !arraysEqualShallow(previous.tags, current.tags) ||
+            !stringsEqualFalseySafe(previous.defaultBranch, current.defaultBranch)
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/types.ts b/packages/backend/src/types.ts
index 2888fc2a..ecfa2289 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/types.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ export interface GitRepository extends BaseRepository {
     cloneUrl: string;
     branches: string[];
     tags: string[];
+    defaultBranch?: string;
     gitConfigMetadata?: Record<string, string>;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/utils.ts b/packages/backend/src/utils.ts
index 7e94905a..677bb2e0 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/utils.ts
@@ -129,3 +129,9 @@ export const arraysEqualShallow = <T>(a?: readonly T[], b?: readonly T[]) => {
 
     return true;
 }
+
+export const stringsEqualFalseySafe = (a?: string, b?: string): boolean => {
+    if (a === b) return true;
+    else if (!a && !b) return true;
+    else return false;
+}
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/zoekt.ts b/packages/backend/src/zoekt.ts
index eab5fea6..445eaccd 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/zoekt.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/zoekt.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ export const indexGitRepository = async (repo: GitRepository, settings: Settings
         ...repo.branches ?? [],
         ...repo.tags ?? [],
     ];
+    if (repo.defaultBranch) revisions.push(repo.defaultBranch);
 
     const command = `zoekt-git-index -allow_missing_branches -index ${ctx.indexPath} -max_trigram_count ${settings.maxTrigramCount} -file_limit ${settings.maxFileSize} -branches ${revisions.join(',')} ${repo.path}`;