diff --git a/git_template/HEAD b/git_template/HEAD
deleted file mode 100644
index b870d82..0000000
--- a/git_template/HEAD
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-ref: refs/heads/main
diff --git a/gitconfig b/gitconfig
index e8e3701..83bfd5d 100644
--- a/gitconfig
+++ b/gitconfig
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 [init]
+  defaultBranch = main
   templatedir = ~/.git_template
 [push]
   default = current
diff --git a/hooks/post-up b/hooks/post-up
index 976b21d..bd527ab 100755
--- a/hooks/post-up
+++ b/hooks/post-up
@@ -8,10 +8,17 @@ else
   curl -fLo "$HOME"/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
       https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
 fi
+
 vim -u "$HOME"/.vimrc.bundles +PlugUpdate +PlugClean! +qa
 
 reset -Q
 
+if [ -f "$HOME/.git_template/HEAD" ] && \
+  [ "$(cat "$HOME/.git_template/HEAD")" = "ref: refs/heads/main" ]; then
+  echo "Removing ~/.git_template/HEAD in favor of defaultBranch" >&2
+  rm -f ~/.git_template/HEAD
+fi
+
 # detect old OS X broken /etc/zshenv and suggest rename
 if grep -qw path_helper /etc/zshenv 2>/dev/null; then
   dir=$(CDPATH= cd -- "$(dirname -- "$0")" && pwd -P)