diff --git a/tests/serve.rs b/tests/serve.rs
index b6e7beb426db98542290fbc153b5f5c607d913b0..5c56a7ebed13b8479e7e7df9706690a554609a5d 100644
--- a/tests/serve.rs
+++ b/tests/serve.rs
@@ -605,6 +605,7 @@
         &instance.path().join("created-clone")
     ));
     let created_clone = instance.path().join("created-clone");
+    command(&created_clone, ["symbolic-ref", "HEAD", "refs/heads/main"]);
     fs::write(created_clone.join("README.md"), b"base\n").expect("write pull-request base");
     git_commit(&created_clone, "create main");
     assert!(git_push(&member_key, &created_clone, &["main"]).success());