diff --git a/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrl.java b/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrl.java
index 74f3f108c3..f0bda15187 100644
--- a/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrl.java
+++ b/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/main/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrl.java
@@ -178,11 +178,8 @@ public String rawFileLocation(String fileName) {
             .add("repository")
             .add("files")
             .add(encode(fileName, Charsets.UTF_8))
-            .add("raw")
+            .add("raw?ref=" + (isNullOrEmpty(branch) ? "HEAD" : branch))
             .toString();
-    if (branch != null) {
-      resultUrl = resultUrl + "?ref=" + branch;
-    }
 
     return resultUrl;
   }
diff --git a/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabAuthorizingFileContentProviderTest.java b/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabAuthorizingFileContentProviderTest.java
index 6150c317b7..ca74f83fae 100644
--- a/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabAuthorizingFileContentProviderTest.java
+++ b/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabAuthorizingFileContentProviderTest.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public void shouldExpandRelativePaths() throws Exception {
     verify(urlFetcher)
         .fetch(
             eq(
-                "https://gitlab.net/api/v4/projects/eclipse%2Fche/repository/files/devfile.yaml/raw"),
+                "https://gitlab.net/api/v4/projects/eclipse%2Fche/repository/files/devfile.yaml/raw?ref=HEAD"),
             eq("Bearer my-token"));
   }
 
diff --git a/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrlTest.java b/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrlTest.java
index c392362af6..6abaac16fa 100644
--- a/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrlTest.java
+++ b/wsmaster/che-core-api-factory-gitlab/src/test/java/org/eclipse/che/api/factory/server/gitlab/GitlabUrlTest.java
@@ -80,11 +80,11 @@ public static Object[][] urlsProvider() {
     return new Object[][] {
       {
         "https://gitlab.net/eclipse/che.git",
-        "https://gitlab.net/api/v4/projects/eclipse%%2Fche/repository/files/%s/raw"
+        "https://gitlab.net/api/v4/projects/eclipse%%2Fche/repository/files/%s/raw?ref=HEAD"
       },
       {
         "https://gitlab.net/eclipse/fooproj/che.git",
-        "https://gitlab.net/api/v4/projects/eclipse%%2Ffooproj%%2Fche/repository/files/%s/raw"
+        "https://gitlab.net/api/v4/projects/eclipse%%2Ffooproj%%2Fche/repository/files/%s/raw?ref=HEAD"
       },
       {
         "git@gitlab.net:eclipse/che.git",