lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm | 1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm
index 4bd8625347396857dcf5d97faa82a9b06f6728fd..f44d8af1c8a0f2cda2294c6db34b25d9403ca4e2 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiBlob.pm
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ 	if ($opt->{'cwd'} // 1) {
 		my $cgd = get_git_dir('.');
 		unshift(@$git_dirs, $cgd) if defined $cgd;
 	}
+	return $lei->fail('no --git-dir to try') unless @$git_dirs;
 	my $lxs = $lei->lxs_prepare or return;
 	require PublicInbox::SolverGit;
 	my $self = bless { lxs => $lxs, oid_b => $blob }, __PACKAGE__;