diff --git a/.github/release/label_advice.py b/.github/release/label_advice.py
index 2ca0461bee..9a1dc444cd 100644
--- a/.github/release/label_advice.py
+++ b/.github/release/label_advice.py
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ def declare(slug, n, value):
 
 
 def owed(slug, author):
-    """[{line, pr, title, why, command}] for author's merged PRs that a live line still owes (needs origin fetched)."""
+    """[{line, pr, title, why, command}] for author's merged PRs that a live line still owes, from local origin refs: main() fetches them first."""
     login = author or _gh("api", "user", "--jq", ".login")
     rows = []
     for branch, ref in sorted(rs._branches(".").items()):
diff --git a/.github/release/test_label_advice.py b/.github/release/test_label_advice.py
index a238911e25..2f07baa8a7 100644
--- a/.github/release/test_label_advice.py
+++ b/.github/release/test_label_advice.py
@@ -259,6 +259,30 @@ def test_backports_run_log_shows_only_under_actions(self):
             self.assertEqual(out.getvalue(), "")
             self.assertEqual("held: 26 main commit(s)" in err.getvalue(), shown, env)
 
+    def test_the_cli_fetches_origin_before_reading_it(self):
+        dev_git(
+            self.repo, "update-ref", "-d", "refs/remotes/origin/release/1.7"
+        )  # a stale clone
+        held = mock.Mock(return_value=[])
+        old = os.getcwd()
+        os.chdir(self.repo)
+        try:
+            with (
+                mock.patch.object(
+                    la, "slug_from_origin", return_value="o/unstract-cloud"
+                ),
+                mock.patch.object(bp, "held", held),
+                mock.patch.object(bp, "pr_classes", return_value={}),
+                mock.patch.object(bp, "declared", return_value=[]),
+                mock.patch.object(la, "_gh", return_value=json.dumps([{"number": 11}])),
+                mock.patch("sys.stdout"),
+            ):
+                self.assertEqual(la.main(["--owed", "--author", "dev"]), 0)
+        finally:
+            os.chdir(old)
+        held.assert_called_once()
+        self.assertEqual(held.call_args.args[2], "release/1.7")
+
     def test_backports_warnings_show_even_when_it_fails(self):
         def fail(*a, **k):
             print("::warning::PR listing failed, classing commit by commit: HTTP 403")