diff --git a/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts b/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
index 3d6177c67..a1d31cdbe 100644
--- a/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
+++ b/quartz/plugins/transformers/lastmod.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import fs from "fs"
 import { Repository } from "@napi-rs/simple-git"
 import { QuartzTransformerPlugin } from "../types"
 import chalk from "chalk"
+import path from "path"
 
 export interface Options {
   priority: ("frontmatter" | "git" | "filesystem")[]
@@ -60,15 +61,8 @@ export const CreatedModifiedDate: QuartzTransformerPlugin<Partial<Options>> = (u
                 created ||= file.data.frontmatter.created as MaybeDate
                 modified ||= file.data.frontmatter.modified as MaybeDate
                 published ||= file.data.frontmatter.published as MaybeDate
-              } else if (source === "git") {
-                if (!repo) {
-                  // Get a reference to the main git repo.
-                  // It's either the same as the workdir,
-                  // or 1+ level higher in case of a submodule/subtree setup
-                  repo = Repository.discover(fullFp)
-                }
+              } else if (source === "git" && repo) {
                 const relativePath = path.relative(repo.workdir()!, fullFp)
-
                 try {
                   modified ||= await repo.getFileLatestModifiedDateAsync(relativePath)
                 } catch {