diff --git a/content/en/about/contribute/creating-and-editing-pages/index.md b/content/en/about/contribute/creating-and-editing-pages/index.md
index 4d83070b25..c4332770ad 100644
--- a/content/en/about/contribute/creating-and-editing-pages/index.md
+++ b/content/en/about/contribute/creating-and-editing-pages/index.md
@@ -401,6 +401,7 @@ The available attributes are:
 |`downloadas`  | The default file name used when the user [downloads the preformatted block](#download-name).
 |`expandlinks` | Whether or not to expand [GitHub file references](#links-to-github-files) in the preformatted block.
 |`snippet`     | The name of the [snippet](#snippets) of content to extract from the preformatted block.
+|`repo`        | The repo to use for [GitHub links](#links-to-github-files) embedded in preformatted blocks.
 
 ### Inline vs. imported content
 
@@ -467,6 +468,21 @@ Which renders as:
 $ kubectl apply -f @samples/bookinfo/networking/virtual-service-reviews-v3.yaml@
 {{< /text >}}
 
+Normally, links will point to the current release branch of the `istio/istio` repo. If you'd like a link
+that points to a different Istio repo instead, you can use the `repo` attribute:
+
+{{< text markdown >}}
+{{</* text syntax="bash" repo="operator" */>}}
+$ cat @README.md@
+{{</* /text */>}}
+{{< /text >}}
+
+which renders as:
+
+{{< text syntax="bash" repo="operator" >}}
+$ cat @README.md@
+{{< /text >}}
+
 If your preformatted content happens to use @ symbols for something else, you can turn off link expansion using the
 `expandlinks` attribute:
 
diff --git a/data/args.yml b/data/args.yml
index eedde93042..0964667d3b 100644
--- a/data/args.yml
+++ b/data/args.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ archive_date: YYYY-MM-DD
 archive_search_refinement: "V1.1"
 
 # GitHub branch names used when the docs have links to GitHub
-source_branch_name: master
+source_branch_name: release-1.3
 doc_branch_name: master
 
 # The list of supported versions described by the docs
diff --git a/layouts/partials/code_block.html b/layouts/partials/code_block.html
index 4dec5eba0b..dab3424809 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/code_block.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/code_block.html
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@
 {{- $output_is := .Get "outputis" | default (.Get 1) -}}
 {{- $download_as := .Get "downloadas" -}}
 {{- $snippet := .Get "snippet" -}}
+{{- $repo := .Get "repo" -}}
+
+{{- if not $repo  }}
+    {{- $repo = "istio" }}
+{{- end -}}
 
 {{- $expand_links := "true" -}}
 
@@ -78,6 +83,9 @@
 {{- if $output_is -}}
     {{- $attrs = printf "%sdata-outputis='%s' " $attrs $output_is -}}
 {{- end -}}
+{{- if $expand_links -}}
+    {{- $attrs = printf "%sdata-repo='%s' " $attrs $repo -}}
+{{- end -}}
 
 {{- $anchor := "" }}
 {{- if $url -}}
@@ -91,7 +99,7 @@
         {{- range $link := $links -}}
             {{- $target := trim $link "@" -}}
             {{- if gt (len $target) 0 -}}
-                {{- $anchor = printf "<a data-skipendnotes='true' style='display:none' href='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/%s/%s'>Zip</a>%s" $branch $target $anchor -}}
+                {{- $anchor = printf "<a data-skipendnotes='true' style='display:none' href='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/%s/%s/%s'>Zip</a>%s" $repo $branch $target $anchor -}}
             {{- end -}}
         {{- end -}}
     {{- end -}}
diff --git a/src/ts/codeBlocks.ts b/src/ts/codeBlocks.ts
index 172dc79d3b..e279d86093 100644
--- a/src/ts/codeBlocks.ts
+++ b/src/ts/codeBlocks.ts
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ function handleCodeBlocks() {
 
             if (cmd !== "") {
                 if (code.dataset.expandlinks === "true") {
-                    cmd = cmd.replace(/@(.*?)@/g, "<a href='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/" + branchName + "/$1'>$1</a>");
+                    cmd = cmd.replace(/@(.*?)@/g, "<a href='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/" + code.dataset.repo + "/" + branchName + "/$1'>$1</a>");
                 }
 
                 let html = "<div class='command'>" + cmd + "</div>";