diff --git a/app/models/repository.rb b/app/models/repository.rb
index c1e4fcf94a4..cb2cf658084 100644
--- a/app/models/repository.rb
+++ b/app/models/repository.rb
@@ -206,12 +206,18 @@ class Repository
   end
 
   def branch_exists?(branch_name)
-    branch_names.include?(branch_name)
+    return false unless raw_repository
+
+    @branch_exists_memo ||= Hash.new do |hash, key|
+      hash[key] = raw_repository.branch_exists?(key)
+    end
+
+    @branch_exists_memo[branch_name]
   end
 
   def ref_exists?(ref)
-    rugged.references.exist?(ref)
-  rescue Rugged::ReferenceError
+    !!raw_repository&.ref_exists?(ref)
+  rescue ArgumentError
     false
   end
 
@@ -266,6 +272,7 @@ class Repository
   def expire_branches_cache
     expire_method_caches(%i(branch_names branch_count))
     @local_branches = nil
+    @branch_exists_memo = nil
   end
 
   def expire_statistics_caches
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/git/repository.rb b/lib/gitlab/git/repository.rb
index f5747951d5e..860ed01c05d 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/git/repository.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/git/repository.rb
@@ -201,6 +201,19 @@ module Gitlab
         end
       end
 
+      # Returns true if the given ref name exists
+      #
+      # Ref names must start with `refs/`.
+      def ref_exists?(ref_name)
+        gitaly_migrate(:ref_exists) do |is_enabled|
+          if is_enabled
+            gitaly_ref_exists?(ref_name)
+          else
+            rugged_ref_exists?(ref_name)
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
       # Returns true if the given tag exists
       #
       # name - The name of the tag as a String.
@@ -989,6 +1002,16 @@ module Gitlab
         raw_output.compact
       end
 
+      # Returns true if the given ref name exists
+      #
+      # Ref names must start with `refs/`.
+      def rugged_ref_exists?(ref_name)
+        raise ArgumentError, 'invalid refname' unless ref_name.start_with?('refs/')
+        rugged.references.exist?(ref_name)
+      rescue Rugged::ReferenceError
+        false
+      end
+
       # Returns true if the given ref name exists
       #
       # Ref names must start with `refs/`.
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/gitaly_client/ref_service.rb b/lib/gitlab/gitaly_client/ref_service.rb
index cdcfed36740..8c0008c6971 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/gitaly_client/ref_service.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/gitaly_client/ref_service.rb
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ module Gitlab
       end
 
       def ref_exists?(ref_name)
-        request = Gitaly::RefExistsRequest.new(repository: @gitaly_repo, ref: ref_name)
+        request = Gitaly::RefExistsRequest.new(repository: @gitaly_repo, ref: GitalyClient.encode(ref_name))
         response = GitalyClient.call(@storage, :ref_service, :ref_exists, request)
         response.value
       rescue GRPC::InvalidArgument => e
diff --git a/spec/features/calendar_spec.rb b/spec/features/calendar_spec.rb
index 9a597a2d690..4fc6956d111 100644
--- a/spec/features/calendar_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/calendar_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ require 'spec_helper'
 
 feature 'Contributions Calendar', :js do
   let(:user) { create(:user) }
-  let(:contributed_project) { create(:project, :public) }
+  let(:contributed_project) { create(:project, :public, :repository) }
   let(:issue_note) { create(:note, project: contributed_project) }
 
   # Ex/ Sunday Jan 1, 2016
diff --git a/spec/features/dashboard/activity_spec.rb b/spec/features/dashboard/activity_spec.rb
index 582868bac1e..bd115785646 100644
--- a/spec/features/dashboard/activity_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/dashboard/activity_spec.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ feature 'Dashboard > Activity' do
   end
 
   context 'event filters', :js do
-    let(:project) { create(:project) }
+    let(:project) { create(:project, :repository) }
 
     let(:merge_request) do
       create(:merge_request, author: user, source_project: project, target_project: project)
diff --git a/spec/lib/gitlab/git/repository_spec.rb b/spec/lib/gitlab/git/repository_spec.rb
index 2b70d16a264..62da733170c 100644
--- a/spec/lib/gitlab/git/repository_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/gitlab/git/repository_spec.rb
@@ -1110,6 +1110,34 @@ describe Gitlab::Git::Repository, seed_helper: true do
     end
   end
 
+  describe '#ref_exists?' do
+    shared_examples 'checks the existence of refs' do
+      it 'returns true for an existing tag' do
+        expect(repository.ref_exists?('refs/heads/master')).to eq(true)
+      end
+
+      it 'returns false for a non-existing tag' do
+        expect(repository.ref_exists?('refs/tags/THIS_TAG_DOES_NOT_EXIST')).to eq(false)
+      end
+
+      it 'raises an ArgumentError for an empty string' do
+        expect { repository.ref_exists?('') }.to raise_error(ArgumentError)
+      end
+
+      it 'raises an ArgumentError for an invalid ref' do
+        expect { repository.ref_exists?('INVALID') }.to raise_error(ArgumentError)
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when Gitaly ref_exists feature is enabled' do
+      it_behaves_like 'checks the existence of refs'
+    end
+
+    context 'when Gitaly ref_exists feature is disabled', skip_gitaly_mock: true do
+      it_behaves_like 'checks the existence of refs'
+    end
+  end
+
   describe '#tag_exists?' do
     shared_examples 'checks the existence of tags' do
       it 'returns true for an existing tag' do
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
index 9a9e255f874..8e04eea56a7 100644
--- a/spec/models/user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -1356,7 +1356,7 @@ describe User do
     end
 
     it "excludes push event if branch has been deleted" do
-      allow_any_instance_of(Repository).to receive(:branch_names).and_return(['foo'])
+      allow_any_instance_of(Repository).to receive(:branch_exists?).with('master').and_return(false)
 
       expect(subject.recent_push).to eq(nil)
     end