diff --git a/.changeset/loud-hounds-listen.md b/.changeset/loud-hounds-listen.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5c04b3bf61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/loud-hounds-listen.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend': patch
+---
+
+Change hardcoded branch `master` to $defaultBranch in GitLab provider
diff --git a/.github/styles/vocab.txt b/.github/styles/vocab.txt
index 5c9d46ea8a..a38baab3dc 100644
--- a/.github/styles/vocab.txt
+++ b/.github/styles/vocab.txt
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ GraphQL
 graphviz
 Hackathons
 haproxy
+hardcoded
 Helidon
 Heroku
 hoc
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
index eead310777..5941f52746 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ export function createPublishGitlabAction(options: {
       });
 
       const remoteUrl = (http_url_to_repo as string).replace(/\.git$/, '');
-      const repoContentsUrl = `${remoteUrl}/-/blob/master`;
+      const repoContentsUrl = `${remoteUrl}/-/blob/${defaultBranch}`;
 
       const gitAuthorInfo = {
         name: config.getOptionalString('scaffolder.defaultAuthor.name'),