diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GithubUrlReader.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GithubUrlReader.ts
index 1a8133fceb..d6612a9da2 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GithubUrlReader.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GithubUrlReader.ts
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ export class GithubUrlReader implements UrlReader {
 
     // ref is an empty string if no branch is set in provided url to readTree.
     // Use GitHub API to get the default branch of the repository.
-    const branch = ref === '' ? repoResponseJson.default_branch : ref;
+    const branch = ref || repoResponseJson.default_branch;
     const branchesApiUrl = repoResponseJson.branches_url;
 
     // Fetch the latest commit in the provided or default branch to compare against
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts
index 647c6fd644..72db901ac1 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/reading/GitlabUrlReader.ts
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ export class GitlabUrlReader implements UrlReader {
     const projectGitlabResponseJson = await projectGitlabResponse.json();
 
     // ref is an empty string if no branch is set in provided url to readTree.
-    const branch = ref === '' ? projectGitlabResponseJson.default_branch : ref;
+    const branch = ref || projectGitlabResponseJson.default_branch;
 
     // Fetch the latest commit in the provided or default branch to compare against
     // the provided sha.
diff --git a/packages/integration/src/azure/core.ts b/packages/integration/src/azure/core.ts
index 73ce4f83d7..b2878af89e 100644
--- a/packages/integration/src/azure/core.ts
+++ b/packages/integration/src/azure/core.ts
@@ -129,11 +129,11 @@ export function getAzureCommitsUrl(url: string): string {
     const ref = parsedUrl.searchParams.get('version')?.substr(2);
 
     if (
-      empty !== '' ||
-      userOrOrg === '' ||
-      project === '' ||
+      !!empty ||
+      !userOrOrg ||
+      !project ||
       srcKeyword !== '_git' ||
-      repoName === ''
+      !repoName
     ) {
       throw new Error('Wrong Azure Devops URL');
     }