diff --git a/src/cli/actions/remoteAction.ts b/src/cli/actions/remoteAction.ts
index 1831251a4..46617ff25 100644
--- a/src/cli/actions/remoteAction.ts
+++ b/src/cli/actions/remoteAction.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import * as fs from 'node:fs/promises';
 import os from 'node:os';
 import path from 'node:path';
 import pc from 'picocolors';
-import { execGitShallowClone, isGitInstalled } from '../../core/git/gitCommand.js';
+import { execGitShallowClone, getRemoteRefs, isGitInstalled } from '../../core/git/gitCommand.js';
 import { parseRemoteValue } from '../../core/git/gitRemoteParse.js';
 import { RepomixError } from '../../shared/errorHandle.js';
 import { logger } from '../../shared/logger.js';
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ export const runRemoteAction = async (
   deps = {
     isGitInstalled,
     execGitShallowClone,
+    getRemoteRefs,
     runDefaultAction,
   },
 ): Promise<DefaultActionRunnerResult> => {
@@ -23,7 +24,18 @@ export const runRemoteAction = async (
     throw new RepomixError('Git is not installed or not in the system PATH.');
   }
 
-  const parsedFields = parseRemoteValue(repoUrl);
+  // Get remote refs
+  let refs: string[] = [];
+  try {
+    refs = await deps.getRemoteRefs(parseRemoteValue(repoUrl).repoUrl);
+    logger.trace(`Retrieved ${refs.length} refs from remote repository`);
+  } catch (error) {
+    logger.trace('Failed to get remote refs, proceeding without them:', (error as Error).message);
+  }
+
+  // Parse the remote URL with the refs information
+  const parsedFields = parseRemoteValue(repoUrl, refs);
+
   const spinner = new Spinner('Cloning repository...', cliOptions);
   const tempDirPath = await createTempDirectory();
   let result: DefaultActionRunnerResult;
diff --git a/src/core/git/gitCommand.ts b/src/core/git/gitCommand.ts
index b12d80c6c..717f7608f 100644
--- a/src/core/git/gitCommand.ts
+++ b/src/core/git/gitCommand.ts
@@ -120,24 +120,49 @@ export const isGitInstalled = async (
   }
 };
 
-export const execGitShallowClone = async (
+export const getRemoteRefs = async (
   url: string,
-  directory: string,
-  remoteBranch?: string,
   deps = {
     execFileAsync,
   },
-) => {
-  if (url.includes('--upload-pack') || url.includes('--config') || url.includes('--exec')) {
-    throw new RepomixError(`Invalid repository URL. URL contains potentially dangerous parameters: ${url}`);
-  }
+): Promise<string[]> => {
+  validateGitUrl(url);
 
-  // Check if the URL is valid
   try {
-    new URL(url);
+    const result = await deps.execFileAsync('git', ['ls-remote', '--heads', '--tags', url]);
+
+    // Extract ref names from the output
+    // Format is: hash\tref_name
+    const refs = result.stdout
+      .split('\n')
+      .filter(Boolean)
+      .map((line) => {
+        // Skip the hash part and extract only the ref name
+        const parts = line.split('\t');
+        if (parts.length < 2) return '';
+
+        // Remove 'refs/heads/' or 'refs/tags/' prefix
+        return parts[1].replace(/^refs\/(heads|tags)\//, '');
+      })
+      .filter(Boolean);
+
+    logger.trace(`Found ${refs.length} refs in repository: ${url}`);
+    return refs;
   } catch (error) {
-    throw new RepomixError(`Invalid repository URL. Please provide a valid URL. url: ${url}`);
+    logger.trace('Failed to get remote refs:', (error as Error).message);
+    throw new RepomixError(`Failed to get remote refs: ${(error as Error).message}`);
   }
+};
+
+export const execGitShallowClone = async (
+  url: string,
+  directory: string,
+  remoteBranch?: string,
+  deps = {
+    execFileAsync,
+  },
+) => {
+  validateGitUrl(url);
 
   if (remoteBranch) {
     await deps.execFileAsync('git', ['-C', directory, 'init']);
@@ -177,3 +202,26 @@ export const execGitShallowClone = async (
   // Clean up .git directory
   await fs.rm(path.join(directory, '.git'), { recursive: true, force: true });
 };
+
+/**
+ * Validates a Git URL for security and format
+ * @throws {RepomixError} If the URL is invalid or contains potentially dangerous parameters
+ */
+const validateGitUrl = (url: string): void => {
+  if (url.includes('--upload-pack') || url.includes('--config') || url.includes('--exec')) {
+    throw new RepomixError(`Invalid repository URL. URL contains potentially dangerous parameters: ${url}`);
+  }
+
+  // Check if the URL starts with git@ or https://
+  if (!(url.startsWith('git@') || url.startsWith('https://'))) {
+    throw new RepomixError(`Invalid URL protocol for '${url}'. URL must start with 'git@' or 'https://'`);
+  }
+
+  try {
+    if (url.startsWith('https://')) {
+      new URL(url);
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    throw new RepomixError(`Invalid repository URL. Please provide a valid URL: ${url}`);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/src/core/git/gitRemoteParse.ts b/src/core/git/gitRemoteParse.ts
index 7b00299cd..61aa5c93b 100644
--- a/src/core/git/gitRemoteParse.ts
+++ b/src/core/git/gitRemoteParse.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ export const isValidShorthand = (remoteValue: string): boolean => {
   return validShorthandRegex.test(remoteValue);
 };
 
-export const parseRemoteValue = (remoteValue: string): { repoUrl: string; remoteBranch: string | undefined } => {
+export const parseRemoteValue = (
+  remoteValue: string,
+  refs: string[] = [],
+): { repoUrl: string; remoteBranch: string | undefined } => {
   if (isValidShorthand(remoteValue)) {
     logger.trace(`Formatting GitHub shorthand: ${remoteValue}`);
     return {
@@ -23,7 +26,7 @@ export const parseRemoteValue = (remoteValue: string): { repoUrl: string; remote
   }
 
   try {
-    const parsedFields = gitUrlParse(remoteValue) as IGitUrl;
+    const parsedFields = gitUrlParse(remoteValue, refs) as IGitUrl;
 
     // This will make parsedFields.toString() automatically append '.git' to the returned url
     parsedFields.git_suffix = true;
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ export const parseRemoteValue = (remoteValue: string): { repoUrl: string; remote
     if (parsedFields.ref) {
       return {
         repoUrl: repoUrl,
-        remoteBranch: parsedFields.filepath ? `${parsedFields.ref}/${parsedFields.filepath}` : parsedFields.ref,
+        remoteBranch: parsedFields.ref,
       };
     }
 
@@ -60,9 +63,9 @@ export const parseRemoteValue = (remoteValue: string): { repoUrl: string; remote
   }
 };
 
-export const isValidRemoteValue = (remoteValue: string): boolean => {
+export const isValidRemoteValue = (remoteValue: string, refs: string[] = []): boolean => {
   try {
-    parseRemoteValue(remoteValue);
+    parseRemoteValue(remoteValue, refs);
     return true;
   } catch (error) {
     return false;
diff --git a/src/types/git-url-parse.d.ts b/src/types/git-url-parse.d.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..75e5598d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/types/git-url-parse.d.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/**
+ * Type definition extension for git-url-parse library
+ *
+ * This file exists because the git-url-parse library's built-in type definitions
+ * are incomplete. The library supports a second 'refs' parameter for the gitUrlParse
+ * function, which is documented in the library's README but not included in its
+ * type definitions.
+ *
+ * Without this type definition extension, we would need to use @ts-ignore when
+ * calling gitUrlParse with the refs parameter, which reduces type safety and
+ * makes the code harder to maintain.
+ *
+ * This file uses TypeScript's module augmentation feature to extend the existing
+ * type definitions without modifying the original library code.
+ */
+
+declare module 'git-url-parse' {
+  import gitUp = require('git-up');
+
+  namespace gitUrlParse {
+    interface GitUrl extends gitUp.ParsedUrl {
+      /** The Git provider (e.g. `"github.com"`). */
+      source: string;
+      /** The repository owner. */
+      owner: string;
+      /** The repository name. */
+      name: string;
+      /** The repository ref (e.g., "master" or "dev"). */
+      ref: string;
+      /** A filepath relative to the repository root. */
+      filepath: string;
+      /** The type of filepath in the url ("blob" or "tree"). */
+      filepathtype: string;
+      /** The owner and name values in the `owner/name` format. */
+      full_name: string;
+      /** The organization the owner belongs to. This is CloudForge specific. */
+      organization: string;
+      /** Whether to add the `.git` suffix or not. */
+      git_suffix?: boolean | undefined;
+      toString(type?: string): string;
+    }
+
+    function stringify(url: GitUrl, type?: string): string;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Parses a Git url.
+   * @param url The Git url to parse.
+   * @param refs An array of strings representing the refs. This is helpful for URLs with branches containing slashes.
+   * @returns The GitUrl object containing parsed information.
+   */
+  function gitUrlParse(url: string, refs?: string[]): gitUrlParse.GitUrl;
+
+  export = gitUrlParse;
+}
diff --git a/tests/cli/actions/remoteAction.test.ts b/tests/cli/actions/remoteAction.test.ts
index fb1db488d..6109ffa5d 100644
--- a/tests/cli/actions/remoteAction.test.ts
+++ b/tests/cli/actions/remoteAction.test.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ describe('remoteAction functions', () => {
           execGitShallowClone: async (url: string, directory: string) => {
             await fs.writeFile(path.join(directory, 'README.md'), 'Hello, world!');
           },
+          getRemoteRefs: async () => Promise.resolve(['main']),
           runDefaultAction: async () => {
             return {
               packResult: {
diff --git a/tests/core/git/gitCommand.test.ts b/tests/core/git/gitCommand.test.ts
index 0e4a06c98..a349315d4 100644
--- a/tests/core/git/gitCommand.test.ts
+++ b/tests/core/git/gitCommand.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { beforeEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from 'vitest';
 import {
   execGitShallowClone,
   getFileChangeCount,
+  getRemoteRefs,
   getWorkTreeDiff,
   isGitInstalled,
   isGitRepository,
@@ -333,4 +334,62 @@ file2.ts
 
     expect(mockFileExecAsync).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  describe('getRemoteRefs', () => {
+    test('should return refs when URL is valid', async () => {
+      const mockOutput = `
+a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6\trefs/heads/main
+b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6q7\trefs/heads/develop
+c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6q7r8\trefs/tags/v1.0.0
+`.trim();
+      const mockFileExecAsync = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ stdout: mockOutput });
+
+      const result = await getRemoteRefs('https://github.com/user/repo.git', { execFileAsync: mockFileExecAsync });
+
+      expect(result).toEqual(['main', 'develop', 'v1.0.0']);
+      expect(mockFileExecAsync).toHaveBeenCalledWith('git', [
+        'ls-remote',
+        '--heads',
+        '--tags',
+        'https://github.com/user/repo.git',
+      ]);
+    });
+
+    test('should throw error when URL does not start with git@ or https://', async () => {
+      const mockFileExecAsync = vi.fn();
+
+      await expect(getRemoteRefs('invalid-url', { execFileAsync: mockFileExecAsync })).rejects.toThrow(
+        "Invalid URL protocol for 'invalid-url'. URL must start with 'git@' or 'https://'",
+      );
+
+      expect(mockFileExecAsync).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    test('should throw error when URL contains dangerous parameters', async () => {
+      const mockFileExecAsync = vi.fn();
+
+      await expect(
+        getRemoteRefs('https://github.com/user/repo.git --upload-pack=evil-command', {
+          execFileAsync: mockFileExecAsync,
+        }),
+      ).rejects.toThrow('Invalid repository URL. URL contains potentially dangerous parameters');
+
+      expect(mockFileExecAsync).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    test('should throw error when git command fails', async () => {
+      const mockFileExecAsync = vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(new Error('git command failed'));
+
+      await expect(
+        getRemoteRefs('https://github.com/user/repo.git', { execFileAsync: mockFileExecAsync }),
+      ).rejects.toThrow('Failed to get remote refs: git command failed');
+
+      expect(mockFileExecAsync).toHaveBeenCalledWith('git', [
+        'ls-remote',
+        '--heads',
+        '--tags',
+        'https://github.com/user/repo.git',
+      ]);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/tests/core/git/gitRemoteParse.test.ts b/tests/core/git/gitRemoteParse.test.ts
index d4d61f24a..6c710f06f 100644
--- a/tests/core/git/gitRemoteParse.test.ts
+++ b/tests/core/git/gitRemoteParse.test.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,9 @@ describe('remoteAction functions', () => {
         remoteBranch: 'branchname',
       });
       expect(
-        parseRemoteValue('https://some.gitlab.domain/some/path/username/repo/-/tree/branchname/withslash'),
+        parseRemoteValue('https://some.gitlab.domain/some/path/username/repo/-/tree/branchname/withslash', [
+          'branchname/withslash',
+        ]),
       ).toEqual({
         repoUrl: 'https://some.gitlab.domain/some/path/username/repo.git',
         remoteBranch: 'branchname/withslash',