diff --git a/scripts/check-consistency.sh b/scripts/check-consistency.sh
index b4f58f5..97aaf9f 100755
--- a/scripts/check-consistency.sh
+++ b/scripts/check-consistency.sh
@@ -103,14 +103,22 @@ $subtask_body
         body_middle="${example_body_middle%$'\n'}"
         body+="${body_middle#$'\n'}"
         body+="$body_suffix"
-        printf '\e]8;;%s\e\\Issue #%s\e]8;;\e\\: error: %s\nExample Issue:\nTitle: %s\nDescription:\n%s\n%s\n%s\n' \
+        printf '\n\n\e]8;;%s\e\\Issue #%s\e]8;;\e\\: error: %s\nExample Issue:\nTitle: %s\nDescription:\n%s\n%s\n%s\n' \
             "$(issue_url "$issue_number")" "$issue_number" "$*" \
             "$example_title" "$bar" "$body" "$bar" >&2
         exit 1
     }
-    issue_json="$(curl -sS "https://git.libre-chip.org/api/v1/repos/libre-chip/grant-tracking/issues/$issue_number" \
-        -H "Accept: application/json" \
-        -H "Authorization: token $FORGEJO_TOKEN")" || error "can't retrieve issue"
+    if [[ "$issue_number" =~ ^'N'?$ ]]; then
+        error "issue number must be set"
+    fi
+    [[ "$issue_number" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || error "invalid issue number"
+    if [[ "$FORGEJO_TOKEN" ]]; then
+        issue_json="$(curl -sS "https://git.libre-chip.org/api/v1/repos/libre-chip/grant-tracking/issues/$issue_number" \
+            -H "Accept: application/json" \
+            -H "Authorization: token $FORGEJO_TOKEN")" || error "can't retrieve issue"
+    else
+        error "FORGEJO_TOKEN is not set, can't check issue (this is expected outside of CI)"
+    fi
     issue_title="$(echo "$issue_json" | jq -r '.title')"
     issue_body="$(echo "$issue_json" | jq -r '.body')"
     [[ "$issue_title" =~ ^"NLnet $nlnet_id "(.*)$ ]] || error "title must start with \`NLnet $nlnet_id \`"
@@ -231,7 +239,6 @@ function check_progress()
             issue_number="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
             issue_number2="${BASH_REMATCH[4]}"
             subtask_title="${BASH_REMATCH[5]}"
-            [[ "$issue_number" != "N" ]] || [[ "$nlnet_id" = "YYYY-MM-ID" ]] || nonfatal_error "issue number must be set"
             [[ ( "$issue_number" = "N" && -z "$issue_number2" ) || "$issue_number" = "$issue_number2" ]] || \
                 nonfatal_error "issue number in link name must match issue number in url"
             ((subtask_line_index = line_index))
@@ -252,7 +259,7 @@ function check_progress()
                     subtask_body_trailing_lines=""
                 fi
             done
-            if [[ "$issue_number2" =~ ^[0-9]+$ && "$nlnet_id" != "YYYY-MM-ID" && "$FORGEJO_TOKEN" ]]; then
+            if [[ "$nlnet_id" != "YYYY-MM-ID" ]]; then
                 check_issue "$issue_number2" "$nlnet_id" "$subtask_title" "$subtask_body" || diag "note:" -line_index="$subtask_line_index" "issue is linked from here"
             fi
         done