diff --git a/src/tci.rs b/src/tci.rs
index 31de07e..d38cc66 100644
--- a/src/tci.rs
+++ b/src/tci.rs
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ impl Tci {
 
 		match self.cfg.branch.as_deref() {
 			None => self.repo.updated("tci"),
-			Some("") => true,
 			Some(b) => self.repo.updated(b),
 		}
 	}
@@ -65,11 +64,14 @@ impl Tci {
 		let tmp = tempdir::TempDir::new(
 			&format!("tci-{}", self.repo.name.replace('/', "_"))
 		)?;
+
+		let clone_branch = self.repo.ci_branch.as_deref()
+			.unwrap_or_else(|| self.cfg.branch.as_deref().unwrap_or("tci"));
 	
 		// TODO recursive clone? automatically clone all submodules after?
 		git2::build::RepoBuilder::new()
 			.bare(false)
-			.branch("tci")
+			.branch(clone_branch)
 			.clone(
 				self.repo.path.to_str()
 					.ok_or(TciErr::FsError("repo path is not a valid string"))?,