diff --git a/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templates/layers.html b/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templates/layers.html
index 864e15683b..c35a299333 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templates/layers.html
+++ b/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templates/layers.html
@@ -52,12 +52,15 @@
                 {% endif %}
         </td>
             <td class="branch">
-                {% if o.branch %}
-                    {{o.branch}}
-                {% else %}
-                    {{o.up_branch.name}}
-                    <i class="icon-question-sign get-help hover-help" title="Your builds will use the tip of the branch you have cloned or downloaded to your computer, so nothing will be fetched"></i>
-                {% endif %}
+                {% with vcs_ref=o.get_vcs_reference %}
+                  {% if vcs_ref|is_shaid %}
+                    <a class="btn" data-content="<ul class='unstyled'> <li>{{vcs_ref}}</li> </ul>">
+                      {{vcs_ref|truncatechars:10}}
+                    </a>
+                  {% else %}
+                    {{vcs_ref}}
+                  {% endif %}
+                {% endwith %}
             </td>
             <td class="dependencies">
         {% with ods=o.dependencies.all%}
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templatetags/projecttags.py b/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templatetags/projecttags.py
index 276c6eb098..e66910cd9d 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templatetags/projecttags.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/toaster/toastergui/templatetags/projecttags.py
@@ -295,3 +295,15 @@ def format_build_date(completed_on):
 
     if delta.days >= 1:
         return True
+
+@register.filter
+def is_shaid(text):
+    """ return True if text length is 40 characters and all hex-digits
+    """
+    try:
+        int(text, 16)
+        if len(text) == 40:
+            return True
+        return False
+    except ValueError:
+        return False