diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-pull.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-pull.c
index cd5fe520..4e6031d6 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo-pull.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo-pull.c
@@ -834,24 +834,55 @@ fetch_ref_contents (OtPullData                 *pull_data,
                     GCancellable               *cancellable,
                     GError                    **error)
 {
-  g_autofree char *filename = NULL;
-
-  if (ref->collection_id == NULL || g_strcmp0 (ref->collection_id, main_collection_id) == 0)
-    filename = g_build_filename ("refs", "heads", ref->ref_name, NULL);
-  else
-    filename = g_build_filename ("refs", "mirrors", ref->collection_id, ref->ref_name, NULL);
-
   g_autofree char *ret_contents = NULL;
-  if (!fetch_mirrored_uri_contents_utf8_sync (pull_data->fetcher,
-                                              pull_data->meta_mirrorlist,
-                                              filename, &ret_contents,
-                                              cancellable, error))
-    return FALSE;
 
+  if (pull_data->remote_repo_local != NULL && ref->collection_id != NULL)
+    {
+#ifdef OSTREE_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_API
+      g_autoptr(GHashTable) refs = NULL;  /* (element-type OstreeCollectionRef utf8) */
+      if (!ostree_repo_list_collection_refs (pull_data->remote_repo_local,
+                                             ref->collection_id, &refs,
+                                             OSTREE_REPO_LIST_REFS_EXT_NONE,
+                                             cancellable, error))
+        return FALSE;
+
+      ret_contents = g_strdup (g_hash_table_lookup (refs, ref));
+#else  /* if !OSTREE_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_API */
+      g_assert_not_reached ();
+#endif  /* !OSTREE_ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_API */
+    }
+  else if (pull_data->remote_repo_local != NULL)
+    {
+      g_autoptr(GHashTable) refs = NULL;  /* (element-type utf8 utf8) */
+      if (!ostree_repo_list_refs (pull_data->remote_repo_local, NULL,
+                                  &refs, cancellable, error))
+        return FALSE;
+
+      ret_contents = g_strdup (g_hash_table_lookup (refs, ref->ref_name));
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      g_autofree char *filename = NULL;
+
+      if (ref->collection_id == NULL || g_strcmp0 (ref->collection_id, main_collection_id) == 0)
+        filename = g_build_filename ("refs", "heads", ref->ref_name, NULL);
+      else
+        filename = g_build_filename ("refs", "mirrors", ref->collection_id, ref->ref_name, NULL);
+
+      if (!fetch_mirrored_uri_contents_utf8_sync (pull_data->fetcher,
+                                                  pull_data->meta_mirrorlist,
+                                                  filename, &ret_contents,
+                                                  cancellable, error))
+        return FALSE;
+    }
+
+  /* Validate and return. */
   g_strchomp (ret_contents);
 
   if (!ostree_validate_checksum_string (ret_contents, error))
-    return glnx_prefix_error (error, "Fetching %s", filename);
+    return glnx_prefix_error (error, "Fetching checksum for ref (%s, %s)",
+                              ref->collection_id ? ref->collection_id : "(empty)",
+                              ref->ref_name);
 
   ot_transfer_out_value (out_contents, &ret_contents);
   return TRUE;
diff --git a/tests/pull-test.sh b/tests/pull-test.sh
index 573f8360..49209839 100644
--- a/tests/pull-test.sh
+++ b/tests/pull-test.sh
@@ -508,5 +508,5 @@ rm ostree-srv/gnomerepo/summary
 if ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=repo pull origin main 2>err.txt; then
     fatal "pull of invalid ref succeeded"
 fi
-assert_file_has_content_literal err.txt 'error: Fetching refs/heads/main: Invalid rev lots of html here  lots of html here  lots of html here  lots of'
+assert_file_has_content_literal err.txt 'error: Fetching checksum for ref ((empty), main): Invalid rev lots of html here  lots of html here  lots of html here  lots of'
 echo "ok pull got HTML for a ref"