diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/cask_loader.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/cask_loader.rb
index 5116aadd9f..f2607b2e53 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/cask_loader.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/cask_loader.rb
@@ -217,14 +217,17 @@ module Cask
         next unless loader_class.can_load?(ref)
 
         if loader_class == FromTapLoader && Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api? &&
-           ref.start_with?("homebrew/cask/") && !Tap.fetch("homebrew/cask").installed? &&
-           Homebrew::API::CaskSource.available?(ref)
+           ref.start_with?("homebrew/cask/") && Homebrew::API::CaskSource.available?(ref)
           return FromContentLoader.new(Homebrew::API::CaskSource.fetch(ref))
         end
 
         return loader_class.new(ref)
       end
 
+      if Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api? && Homebrew::API::CaskSource.available?(ref)
+        return FromContentLoader.new(Homebrew::API::CaskSource.fetch(ref))
+      end
+
       return FromTapPathLoader.new(default_path(ref)) if FromTapPathLoader.can_load?(default_path(ref))
 
       case (possible_tap_casks = tap_paths(ref)).count
@@ -239,10 +242,6 @@ module Cask
         EOS
       end
 
-      if Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api? && Homebrew::API::CaskSource.available?(ref)
-        return FromContentLoader.new(Homebrew::API::CaskSource.fetch(ref))
-      end
-
       possible_installed_cask = Cask.new(ref)
       return FromPathLoader.new(possible_installed_cask.installed_caskfile) if possible_installed_cask.installed?
 
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update-report.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update-report.rb
index cedb689d67..1aa705d0b1 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update-report.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update-report.rb
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ module Homebrew
     updated_taps = []
     Tap.each do |tap|
       next unless tap.git?
-      next if (tap.core_tap? || tap == "homebrew/cask") && Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api? && args.auto_update?
+      next if (tap.core_tap? || tap == "homebrew/cask") && Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api?
 
       if ENV["HOMEBREW_MIGRATE_LINUXBREW_FORMULAE"].present? && tap.core_tap? &&
          Settings.read("linuxbrewmigrated") != "true"
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.sh b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.sh
index 19285aa4f8..f70fe6d09a 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.sh
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/update.sh
@@ -701,10 +701,7 @@ EOS
 
   for DIR in "${HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY}" "${HOMEBREW_LIBRARY}"/Taps/*/*
   do
-    # HOMEBREW_UPDATE_AUTO wasn't modified in subshell.
-    # shellcheck disable=SC2031
     if [[ -n "${HOMEBREW_INSTALL_FROM_API}" ]] &&
-       [[ -n "${HOMEBREW_UPDATE_AUTO}" ]] &&
        [[ "${DIR}" == "${HOMEBREW_CORE_REPOSITORY}" ||
           "${DIR}" == "${HOMEBREW_LIBRARY}/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-cask" ]]
     then
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb b/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb
index 1a8afb24a9..65858d3e43 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/formulary.rb
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ module Formulary
     when URL_START_REGEX
       return FromUrlLoader.new(ref)
     when HOMEBREW_TAP_FORMULA_REGEX
-      if ref.start_with?("homebrew/core/") && !CoreTap.instance.installed? && Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api?
+      if ref.start_with?("homebrew/core/") && Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api?
         name = ref.split("/", 3).last
         return FormulaAPILoader.new(name) if Homebrew::API::Formula.all_formulae.key?(name)
       end
@@ -651,18 +651,16 @@ module Formulary
 
     return FromPathLoader.new(ref) if File.extname(ref) == ".rb" && Pathname.new(ref).expand_path.exist?
 
+    if Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api? && Homebrew::API::Formula.all_formulae.key?(ref)
+      return FormulaAPILoader.new(ref)
+    end
+
     formula_with_that_name = core_path(ref)
     return FormulaLoader.new(ref, formula_with_that_name) if formula_with_that_name.file?
 
     possible_alias = CoreTap.instance.alias_dir/ref
     return AliasLoader.new(possible_alias) if possible_alias.file?
 
-    if !CoreTap.instance.installed? &&
-       Homebrew::EnvConfig.install_from_api? &&
-       Homebrew::API::Formula.all_formulae.key?(ref)
-      return FormulaAPILoader.new(ref)
-    end
-
     possible_tap_formulae = tap_paths(ref)
     raise TapFormulaAmbiguityError.new(ref, possible_tap_formulae) if possible_tap_formulae.size > 1