diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 47671d3..b528d3e 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 * Change the package name to `r.releases.internals`.
 * Get RemoteSha hashes for checking versions (@jeroen, https://github.com/r-universe-org/help/issues/377).
+* Makes `review_pull_requests()` robust to a package description with no URL listed.
 
 # r.releases.utils 0.0.8
 
diff --git a/R/assert_cran_url.R b/R/assert_cran_url.R
index 1edec3a..0cba78e 100644
--- a/R/assert_cran_url.R
+++ b/R/assert_cran_url.R
@@ -16,7 +16,13 @@ assert_cran_url <- function(name, url) {
     return(invisible())
   }
   package <- result[["Package"]]
-  main_urls <- strsplit(result[["URL"]], ",\n|, |\n", perl = TRUE)[[1L]]
+  main_urls <- unlist(
+    strsplit(
+      as.character(result[["URL"]]),
+      ",\n|, |\n",
+      perl = TRUE
+    )
+  )
   bugs_url <- sub(
     pattern = "/issues/*$",
     replacement = "",
diff --git a/tests/test-assert_package.R b/tests/test-assert_package.R
index 93637e3..e179a58 100644
--- a/tests/test-assert_package.R
+++ b/tests/test-assert_package.R
@@ -140,6 +140,17 @@ stopifnot(
   )
 )
 
+stopifnot(
+  grepl(
+    "does not appear in its DESCRIPTION file published on CRAN",
+    r.releases.utils::assert_cran_url(
+      name = "assertthat",
+      url = "https://github.com/hadley/assertthat"
+    ),
+    fixed = TRUE
+  )
+)
+
 stopifnot(
   grepl(
     "returned HTTP error",