diff --git a/pkg/gui/background.go b/pkg/gui/background.go
index 9d034ffa1..73964838c 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/background.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/background.go
@@ -79,6 +79,16 @@ func (self *BackgroundRoutineMgr) startBackgroundFetch() {
 	self.gui.waitForIntro.Wait()
 
 	fetch := func() error {
+		// Do this on the UI thread so that we don't have to deal with synchronization around the
+		// access of the repo state.
+		self.gui.onUIThread(func() error {
+			// There's a race here, where we might be recording the time stamp for a different repo
+			// than where the fetch actually ran. It's not very likely though, and not harmful if it
+			// does happen; guarding against it would be more effort than it's worth.
+			self.gui.State.LastBackgroundFetchTime = time.Now()
+			return nil
+		})
+
 		return self.gui.helpers.AppStatus.WithWaitingStatusImpl(self.gui.Tr.FetchingStatus, func(gocui.Task) error {
 			return self.backgroundFetch()
 		}, nil)
diff --git a/pkg/gui/gui.go b/pkg/gui/gui.go
index b4b295430..a7e17ef9f 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/gui.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/gui.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/gocui"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazycore/pkg/boxlayout"
@@ -253,6 +254,8 @@ type GuiRepoState struct {
 	ScreenMode types.ScreenMode
 
 	CurrentPopupOpts *types.CreatePopupPanelOpts
+
+	LastBackgroundFetchTime time.Time
 }
 
 var _ types.IRepoStateAccessor = new(GuiRepoState)
@@ -308,7 +311,9 @@ func (self *GuiRepoState) GetSplitMainPanel() bool {
 func (gui *Gui) onSwitchToNewRepo(startArgs appTypes.StartArgs, contextKey types.ContextKey) error {
 	err := gui.onNewRepo(startArgs, contextKey)
 	if err == nil && gui.UserConfig().Git.AutoFetch && gui.UserConfig().Refresher.FetchInterval > 0 {
-		gui.BackgroundRoutineMgr.triggerImmediateFetch()
+		if time.Since(gui.State.LastBackgroundFetchTime) > gui.UserConfig().Refresher.FetchIntervalDuration() {
+			gui.BackgroundRoutineMgr.triggerImmediateFetch()
+		}
 	}
 	return err
 }