diff --git a/lib/main.js b/lib/main.js
index ce03844..25eb905 100644
--- a/lib/main.js
+++ b/lib/main.js
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function run() {
             process.chdir(tmpdir);
             const remote_branch_exists = child_process.execSync(`git ls-remote --heads ${remote_url} ${target_branch}`, { encoding: 'utf8' }).trim().length >
                 0;
-            if (remote_branch_exists) {
+            if (keep_history && remote_branch_exists) {
                 yield exec.exec('git', ['clone', '--quiet', '--branch', target_branch, '--depth', '1', remote_url, '.']);
             }
             else {
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index f860718..f065b0a 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ async function run() {
     const remote_branch_exists =
       child_process.execSync(`git ls-remote --heads ${remote_url} ${target_branch}`, {encoding: 'utf8'}).trim().length >
       0;
-    if (remote_branch_exists) {
+    if (keep_history && remote_branch_exists) {
       await exec.exec('git', ['clone', '--quiet', '--branch', target_branch, '--depth', '1', remote_url, '.']);
     } else {
       core.info(`🏃 Initializing local git repo`);