diff --git a/src/cmd-prune b/src/cmd-prune
index aadd455831..660eae5790 100755
--- a/src/cmd-prune
+++ b/src/cmd-prune
@@ -176,7 +176,8 @@ error_during_pruning = False
 for build in builds_to_delete:
     print(f"Pruning build {build.id}")
     try:
-        subprocess.check_call(['ostree', '--repo=tmp/repo', 'refs', '--delete', build.id])
+        if os.path.exists('tmp/repo'):
+            subprocess.check_call(['ostree', '--repo=tmp/repo', 'refs', '--delete', build.id])
         rmtree(os.path.join(builds_dir, build.id))
     except Exception as e:
         error_during_pruning = True