diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database_provider.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database_provider.go
index 1fa0163302..d6525549d3 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database_provider.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/sqle/database_provider.go
@@ -1560,8 +1560,10 @@ func initialStateForBranchDb(ctx *sql.Context, srcDb dsess.SqlDatabase) (dsess.I
 		return dsess.InitialDbState{}, err
 	}
 
+	// Working set may not exist. Upstream code which calls here must
+	// handle the WorkingSet field being nil.q
 	ws, err := srcDb.DbData().Ddb.ResolveWorkingSetAtRoot(ctx, wsRef, rootHash)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err != nil && err != doltdb.ErrWorkingSetNotFound {
 		return dsess.InitialDbState{}, err
 	}