diff --git a/src/byteb4rb1e/utils/vcs/git.py b/src/byteb4rb1e/utils/vcs/git.py
index ab7e87f..cd4cd87 100644
--- a/src/byteb4rb1e/utils/vcs/git.py
+++ b/src/byteb4rb1e/utils/vcs/git.py
@@ -146,6 +146,18 @@ def show_ref(repo: Path) -> str:
         return ""
 
 
+def ls_remote(repo: Path, remote: str) -> str:
+    """Return the raw output of ``git ls-remote <remote>``.
+
+    Returns an empty string if the remote has no refs or on error.
+    """
+    try:
+        result = _run(["ls-remote", remote], cwd=repo)
+        return result.stdout
+    except GitError:
+        return ""
+
+
 def mirror_push(repo: Path, remote: str) -> None:
     """Push the full mirror to a remote.
 
@@ -260,22 +272,39 @@ def has_submodule(repo: Path, path: str) -> bool:
     """Check whether a submodule is registered at *path*.
 
     Reads ``.gitmodules`` to determine whether the submodule exists.
+    *path* is resolved relative to *repo*, then compared against
+    the repository root so the check works when *repo* is a
+    subdirectory of the actual git working tree.
     Returns False if ``.gitmodules`` does not exist.
     """
-    gitmodules = repo / ".gitmodules"
+    try:
+        toplevel = Path(
+            _run(
+                ["rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"], cwd=repo,
+            ).stdout.strip()
+        )
+    except GitError:
+        return False
+    gitmodules = toplevel / ".gitmodules"
     if not gitmodules.is_file():
         return False
+    # Resolve the full path relative to the repo root
+    full_path = (repo / path).resolve()
+    try:
+        rel_path = str(full_path.relative_to(toplevel.resolve()))
+    except ValueError:
+        return False
     try:
         result = _run(
-            ["config", "--file", ".gitmodules",
+            ["config", "--file", str(gitmodules),
              "--get-regexp", r"submodule\..*\.path"],
-            cwd=repo,
+            cwd=toplevel,
         )
     except GitError:
         return False
     for line in result.stdout.splitlines():
         parts = line.split(None, 1)
-        if len(parts) == 2 and parts[1] == path:
+        if len(parts) == 2 and parts[1] == rel_path:
             return True
     return False
 
@@ -306,3 +335,11 @@ def submodule_update(repo: Path, path: str) -> None:
     default_branch = result.stdout.strip()
     _run(["checkout", default_branch], cwd=sub_path)
     logger.info("Updated submodule %s to %s", path, default_branch)
+
+
+def submodule_checkout(repo: Path, path: str, ref: str) -> None:
+    """Fetch and checkout a specific ref in a submodule."""
+    sub_path = repo / path
+    _run(["fetch", "origin"], cwd=sub_path)
+    _run(["checkout", ref], cwd=sub_path)
+    logger.info("Checked out submodule %s at %s", path, ref)