diff --git a/binderhub/app.py b/binderhub/app.py
index 59c502a84..37beb58b2 100644
--- a/binderhub/app.py
+++ b/binderhub/app.py
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@
 from .ratelimit import RateLimiter
 from .registry import DockerRegistry
 from .repoproviders import (
-    MecaRepoProvider,
     DataverseProvider,
     FigshareProvider,
     GistRepoProvider,
@@ -64,6 +63,7 @@
     GitLabRepoProvider,
     GitRepoProvider,
     HydroshareProvider,
+    MecaRepoProvider,
     RepoProvider,
     ZenodoProvider,
 )
diff --git a/binderhub/repoproviders.py b/binderhub/repoproviders.py
index af48e943e..d3df12b91 100644
--- a/binderhub/repoproviders.py
+++ b/binderhub/repoproviders.py
@@ -15,10 +15,11 @@
 import time
 import urllib.parse
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
-from urllib.parse import urlparse, urlunparse
 from hashlib import md5
+from urllib.parse import unquote, urlparse, urlunparse
 
 import escapism
+import validators as val
 from prometheus_client import Gauge
 from tornado.httpclient import AsyncHTTPClient, HTTPError, HTTPRequest
 from tornado.httputil import url_concat
@@ -325,7 +326,9 @@ def get_hashed_slug(self, url, changes_with_content):
         stripped_url = urlunparse(
             (parsed_url.scheme, parsed_url.netloc, parsed_url.path, "", "", "")
         )
-        return "meca-" + md5(f"{stripped_url}-{changes_with_content}".encode()).hexdigest()
+        return (
+            "meca-" + md5(f"{stripped_url}-{changes_with_content}".encode()).hexdigest()
+        )
 
     async def get_resolved_ref(self):
         # Check the URL is reachable