fix(web): show empty repository browse state

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Send anonymous server-side PostHog events as personless so unauthenticated requests don't inflate person counts. [#1367](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1367)
 - [EE] Fixed Ask Sourcebot mermaid diagrams overflowing their container by contain-fitting them to both width and height, and made revealing a diagram from the answer jump it into view instantly to avoid over/undershooting. [#1373](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1373)
 - Passed Zoekt index parameters via argv to preserve revision names with punctuation. [#1376](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1376)
+- Show a clear empty repository state in the browse tree instead of generic tree loading errors. [#1380](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1380)
 
 ## [5.0.4] - 2026-06-18
 

packages/web/src/app/(app)/browse/[...path]/components/treePreviewPanel/pureTreePreviewPanel.tsx

@@ -9,11 +9,20 @@ import { FileTreeItem } from "@/features/git";
 
 interface PureTreePreviewPanelProps {
     items: FileTreeItem[];
+    isRepositoryEmpty: boolean;
 }
 
-export const PureTreePreviewPanel = ({ items }: PureTreePreviewPanelProps) => {
+export const PureTreePreviewPanel = ({ items, isRepositoryEmpty }: PureTreePreviewPanelProps) => {
     const { repoName, revisionName } = useBrowseParams();
     const scrollAreaRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null);
+
+    if (isRepositoryEmpty) {
+        return (
+            <div className="flex h-full items-center justify-center p-4 text-sm text-muted-foreground">
+                This repository is empty
+            </div>
+        );
+    }
 
     return (
         <ScrollArea
@@ -38,4 +47,4 @@ export const PureTreePreviewPanel = ({ items }: PureTreePreviewPanelProps) => {
             ))}
         </ScrollArea>
     )
-}
+}

packages/web/src/app/(app)/browse/[...path]/components/treePreviewPanel/treePreviewPanel.tsx

@@ -43,7 +43,10 @@ export const TreePreviewPanel = async ({ path, repoName, revisionName }: TreePre
                 />
             </div>
             <Separator />
-            <PureTreePreviewPanel items={folderContentsResponse} />
+            <PureTreePreviewPanel
+                items={folderContentsResponse.items}
+                isRepositoryEmpty={folderContentsResponse.isRepositoryEmpty}
+            />
         </>
     )
-}
+}

packages/web/src/app/(app)/browse/components/emptyRepositoryPanels.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import { cleanup, render, screen } from '@testing-library/react';
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { PureFileTreePanel } from './pureFileTreePanel';
+import { PureTreePreviewPanel } from '../[...path]/components/treePreviewPanel/pureTreePreviewPanel';
+
+vi.mock('@/app/(app)/browse/hooks/useBrowseParams', () => ({
+    useBrowseParams: () => ({
+        repoName: 'github.com/sourcebot-dev/empty',
+        revisionName: 'HEAD',
+        path: '',
+        pathType: 'tree',
+    }),
+}));
+
+vi.mock('@bprogress/next', () => ({
+    useProgress: () => ({
+        stop: vi.fn(),
+    }),
+}));
+
+afterEach(() => {
+    cleanup();
+});
+
+describe('empty repository browse panels', () => {
+    test('tree preview panel shows a clear empty repository state', () => {
+        render(<PureTreePreviewPanel items={[]} isRepositoryEmpty={true} />);
+
+        expect(screen.queryByText('This repository is empty')).toBeTruthy();
+    });
+
+    test('tree preview panel does not infer repository emptiness from empty items', () => {
+        render(<PureTreePreviewPanel items={[]} isRepositoryEmpty={false} />);
+
+        expect(screen.queryByText('This repository is empty')).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    test('file tree panel shows a clear empty repository state', () => {
+        render(
+            <PureFileTreePanel
+                tree={{
+                    name: 'root',
+                    path: '',
+                    type: 'tree',
+                    children: [],
+                }}
+                openPaths={new Set()}
+                path=""
+                onTreeNodeClicked={vi.fn()}
+            />
+        );
+
+        expect(screen.queryByText('This repository is empty')).toBeTruthy();
+    });
+});

packages/web/src/app/(app)/browse/components/pureFileTreePanel.tsx

@@ -84,6 +84,14 @@ export const PureFileTreePanel = ({ tree, openPaths, path, onTreeNodeClicked }:
 
     const renderedTree = useMemo(() => renderTree(tree), [tree, renderTree]);
 
+    if (tree.children.length === 0) {
+        return (
+            <div className="flex h-full items-center justify-center p-4 text-sm text-muted-foreground">
+                This repository is empty
+            </div>
+        );
+    }
+
     return (
         <ScrollArea
             className="h-full w-full overflow-auto p-0.5"
@@ -94,4 +102,3 @@ export const PureFileTreePanel = ({ tree, openPaths, path, onTreeNodeClicked }:
         </ScrollArea>
     )
 }
-