diff --git a/src/git.test.ts b/src/git.test.ts
index b9d105b..1c9343e 100644
--- a/src/git.test.ts
+++ b/src/git.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { join } from "node:path";
 import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import {
   buildPathspecArgs,
+  ensureCommitAvailable,
   extractBranchName,
   extractBranchNameFromMergeMessage,
   getCommitContext,
@@ -308,6 +309,11 @@ type TempRepo = {
   };
 };
 
+type ShallowCloneRepo = TempRepo & {
+  origin: string;
+  source: string;
+};
+
 type TempRepoWithMerge = {
   cwd: string;
   commits: {
@@ -362,6 +368,17 @@ function createTempRepo(): TempRepo {
   return { cwd, commits: { first, second, third } };
 }
 
+function createShallowCloneRepo(): ShallowCloneRepo {
+  const source = createTempRepo();
+  const origin = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "linear-release-origin-"));
+  runGit(`clone --bare ${source.cwd} ${origin}`, tmpdir());
+
+  const cwd = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "linear-release-shallow-"));
+  runGit(`clone --depth 1 file://${origin} ${cwd}`, tmpdir());
+
+  return { cwd, origin, source: source.cwd, commits: source.commits };
+}
+
 /**
  * Build a deterministic git repo with a merge commit for integration tests.
  *
@@ -412,6 +429,27 @@ describe("getCommitContextsBetweenShas", () => {
     repo = createTempRepo();
   });
 
+  it("should auto-fetch deeper history for shallow clones", () => {
+    const shallowRepo = createShallowCloneRepo();
+
+    try {
+      expect(runGit("rev-parse --is-shallow-repository", shallowRepo.cwd)).toBe("true");
+
+      ensureCommitAvailable(shallowRepo.commits.first, shallowRepo.cwd);
+
+      const result = getCommitContextsBetweenShas(shallowRepo.commits.first, shallowRepo.commits.third, {
+        cwd: shallowRepo.cwd,
+      });
+
+      expect(result.map((commit) => commit.sha)).toEqual([shallowRepo.commits.third, shallowRepo.commits.second]);
+      expect(runGit("rev-parse --is-shallow-repository", shallowRepo.cwd)).toBe("false");
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(shallowRepo.cwd, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      rmSync(shallowRepo.origin, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      rmSync(shallowRepo.source, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
+
   afterAll(() => {
     rmSync(repo.cwd, { recursive: true, force: true });
   });
diff --git a/src/git.ts b/src/git.ts
index 1949d57..229fdcf 100644
--- a/src/git.ts
+++ b/src/git.ts
@@ -98,12 +98,7 @@ export function commitExists(sha: string, cwd: string = process.cwd()): boolean
       stdio: ["ignore", "ignore", "ignore"],
     });
     return true;
-  } catch (error) {
-    // Only log unexpected errors, not "commit not found" which is expected
-    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
-    if (!message.includes("Not a valid object")) {
-      warn(`commitExists: Unexpected error checking ${sha}: ${message}`);
-    }
+  } catch {
     return false;
   }
 }
@@ -195,7 +190,7 @@ export function getCommitContext(sha: string, cwd: string = process.cwd()): Comm
  * For shallow clones, progressively fetches more history until the commit is found.
  * Throws if the commit cannot be made available (e.g., not on the current branch).
  */
-function ensureCommitAvailable(sha: string, cwd: string): void {
+export function ensureCommitAvailable(sha: string, cwd: string = process.cwd()): void {
   if (commitExists(sha, cwd)) {
     return;
   }
@@ -258,9 +253,6 @@ export function getCommitContextsBetweenShas(
     return [];
   }
 
-  // Ensure the base commit is available (handles shallow clones)
-  ensureCommitAvailable(fromSha, cwd);
-
   const pathspecArgs = buildPathspecArgs(includePaths);
 
   // If fromSha and toSha are the same, get that single commit only
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 7f5fd79..ac1fed7 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { LinearClient, LinearClientOptions } from "@linear/sdk";
-import { commitExists, getCommitContextsBetweenShas, getCurrentGitInfo, getRepoInfo } from "./git";
+import { ensureCommitAvailable, getCommitContextsBetweenShas, getCurrentGitInfo, getRepoInfo } from "./git";
 import { scanCommits } from "./scan";
 import {
   Release,
@@ -157,9 +157,12 @@ async function syncCommand(): Promise<{
   let latestSha = await getLatestSha();
   let inspectingOnlyCurrentCommit = false;
 
-  if (!commitExists(latestSha)) {
+  try {
+    ensureCommitAvailable(latestSha);
+  } catch (error) {
+    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
     warn(
-      `Could not find sha ${latestSha} in the git history (it may be on a different branch or the repository history was not fully fetched)`,
+      `Could not make sha ${latestSha} available in local git history; falling back to current commit only. ${message}`,
     );
     inspectingOnlyCurrentCommit = true;
     latestSha = currentCommit.commit;
@@ -224,7 +227,14 @@ async function syncCommand(): Promise<{
 
   info("Finished");
 
-  return { release: { id: release.id, name: release.name, version: release.version, url: release.url } };
+  return {
+    release: {
+      id: release.id,
+      name: release.name,
+      version: release.version,
+      url: release.url,
+    },
+  };
 }
 
 async function completeCommand(): Promise<{
@@ -336,7 +346,9 @@ async function getLatestSha(): Promise<string> {
   return currentSha;
 }
 
-async function getPipelineSettings(): Promise<{ includePathPatterns: string[] }> {
+async function getPipelineSettings(): Promise<{
+  includePathPatterns: string[];
+}> {
   const response = await apiRequest<AccessKeyPipelineSettingsResponse>(
     `
     query pipelineSettingsByAccessKey {
@@ -418,10 +430,10 @@ async function syncRelease(
   return response.data.releaseSyncByAccessKey.release;
 }
 
-async function completeRelease(options: {
-  version?: string | null;
-  commitSha?: string | null;
-}): Promise<{ success: boolean; release: { id: string; name: string; version?: string; url?: string } | null }> {
+async function completeRelease(options: { version?: string | null; commitSha?: string | null }): Promise<{
+  success: boolean;
+  release: { id: string; name: string; version?: string; url?: string } | null;
+}> {
   const { version, commitSha } = options;
 
   const response = await apiRequest<AccessKeyCompleteReleaseResponse>(
@@ -451,7 +463,13 @@ async function completeRelease(options: {
 
 async function updateReleaseByPipeline(options: { stage?: string; version?: string | null }): Promise<{
   success: boolean;
-  release: { id: string; name: string; version?: string; url?: string; stageName: string } | null;
+  release: {
+    id: string;
+    name: string;
+    version?: string;
+    url?: string;
+    stageName: string;
+  } | null;
 }> {
   const { stage, version } = options;
   const versionInput = version ? `, version: "${version}"` : "";
@@ -496,7 +514,9 @@ async function updateReleaseByPipeline(options: { stage?: string; version?: stri
 }
 
 async function main() {
-  let result: { release: { id: string; name: string; version?: string; url?: string } } | null = null;
+  let result: {
+    release: { id: string; name: string; version?: string; url?: string };
+  } | null = null;
 
   switch (command) {
     case "sync":