diff --git a/contrib/filter-repo-demos/lint-history b/contrib/filter-repo-demos/lint-history
index 504d83c..61967b7 100755
--- a/contrib/filter-repo-demos/lint-history
+++ b/contrib/filter-repo-demos/lint-history
@@ -160,9 +160,11 @@ if lint_args.relevant:
   exec('def is_relevant(filename):\n  '+'\n  '.join(body.splitlines()),
        globals())
   lint_args.filenames_important = True
-args = fr.FilteringOptions.default_options()
+input_args = []
+if lint_args.refs:
+  input_args = ["--args",] + lint_args.refs
+args = fr.FilteringOptions.parse_args(input_args, error_on_empty = False)
 args.force = True
-args.refs = lint_args.refs if lint_args.refs is not None else []
 if lint_args.filenames_important:
   tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp().encode()
   cat_file_process = subprocess.Popen(['git', 'cat-file', '--batch'],