diff --git a/git/api/commit.go b/git/api/commit.go
index d507bbc4d..592004567 100644
--- a/git/api/commit.go
+++ b/git/api/commit.go
@@ -189,14 +189,10 @@ func (g *Git) listCommitSHAs(
 	output := &bytes.Buffer{}
 	err := cmd.Run(ctx, command.WithDir(repoPath), command.WithStdout(output))
 	if cErr := command.AsError(err); cErr != nil && cErr.IsExitCode(128) {
-		if cErr.IsAmbiguousArgErr() {
-			return nil, errors.NotFound("reference %q is ambiguous", ref)
-		}
-		if cErr.IsBadObject() {
-			return nil, errors.NotFound("commit not found")
+		if cErr.IsAmbiguousArgErr() || cErr.IsBadObject() {
+			return []string{}, nil // return an empty list if reference doesn't exist
 		}
 	}
-
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, processGitErrorf(err, "failed to trigger rev-list command")
 	}