diff --git a/lua/openingh/utils.lua b/lua/openingh/utils.lua
index 132ed14..ef39177 100644
--- a/lua/openingh/utils.lua
+++ b/lua/openingh/utils.lua
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ function M.trim(string)
   return (string:gsub("^%s*(.-)%s*$", "%1"))
 end
 
+-- url encode
+-- see: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3986#section-2.3
+function M.encode_uri_component(string)
+  return (string:gsub("[^%w_~%.%-]", function (c) return string.format("%%%02X", string.byte(c)) end))
+end
+
 -- returns a table with the host, user/org and the reponame given a github remote url
 -- nil is returned when the url cannot be parsed
 function M.parse_gh_remote(url)
@@ -77,21 +83,17 @@ end
 -- Returns the current branch or commit if they are available on remote
 -- otherwise this will return the default branch of the repo
 function M.get_current_branch_or_commit()
-  local core = function()
-    local current_branch = get_current_branch()
-    if current_branch ~= "HEAD" and M.is_branch_upstreamed(current_branch) then
-      return current_branch
-    end
-
-    local commit_hash = get_current_commit_hash()
-    if current_branch == "HEAD" and M.is_commit_upstreamed(commit_hash) then
-      return commit_hash
-    end
-
-    return M.get_default_branch()
+  local current_branch = get_current_branch()
+  if current_branch ~= "HEAD" and M.is_branch_upstreamed(current_branch) then
+    return M.encode_uri_component(current_branch)
   end
 
-  return string.gsub(core(), "#", "%%23")
+  local commit_hash = get_current_commit_hash()
+  if current_branch == "HEAD" and M.is_commit_upstreamed(commit_hash) then
+    return commit_hash
+  end
+
+  return M.encode_uri_component(M.get_default_branch())
 end
 
 -- get the active buf relative file path form the .git
@@ -100,9 +102,13 @@ function M.get_current_relative_file_path()
   local absolute_file_path = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(0)
   local git_path = vim.fn.system("git rev-parse --show-toplevel")
 
-  local relative_file_path = "/" .. string.sub(absolute_file_path, git_path:len() + 1)
+  local relative_file_path_components = M.split(string.sub(absolute_file_path, git_path:len() + 1), "/")
+  local encoded_components = {}
+  for i, path_component in pairs(relative_file_path_components) do
+    table.insert(encoded_components, i, M.encode_uri_component(path_component))
+  end
 
-  return relative_file_path
+  return "/" .. table.concat(encoded_components, '/')
 end
 
 -- get the line number in the buffer