diff --git a/lua/git-dashboard-nvim/git.lua b/lua/git-dashboard-nvim/git.lua
index f4ed781..2b408e4 100644
--- a/lua/git-dashboard-nvim/git.lua
+++ b/lua/git-dashboard-nvim/git.lua
@@ -8,18 +8,15 @@ Git = {}
 
 ---@return boolean
 Git.is_git_repo = function()
-  local handle = io.popen("git status &>" .. null .. "; echo $?")
+  local handle = io.popen("git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>" .. null)
   if not handle then
     return false
   end
 
-  local exit_code = handle:read("*a")
+  local result = vim.trim(handle:read("*a"))
   handle:close()
 
-  -- git status command returns 
-  -- 0 exit code if it is a git repository,
-  -- 128 exit code otherwise
-  return tonumber(exit_code) == 0
+  return result == "true"
 end
 
 ---@return string
diff --git a/tests/unit/git_spec.lua b/tests/unit/git_spec.lua
index 65935ae..6f5e445 100644
--- a/tests/unit/git_spec.lua
+++ b/tests/unit/git_spec.lua
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ describe("git", function()
     assert(commits ~= nil)
   end)
 
-  it("should return git status exit code 0", function()
+  it("should return true if in a git repo", function()
     local git = require("git-dashboard-nvim.git")
     local is_git_repo = git.is_git_repo()