diff --git a/pkg/app/app.go b/pkg/app/app.go
index 9e0679755..899325142 100644
--- a/pkg/app/app.go
+++ b/pkg/app/app.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/generics/slices"
 	appTypes "github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/app/types"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands"
+	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/git_commands"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/git_config"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/oscommands"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/common"
@@ -155,6 +156,18 @@ func isDirectoryAGitRepository(dir string) (bool, error) {
 	return info != nil, err
 }
 
+func openRecentRepo(app *App) bool {
+	for _, repoDir := range app.Config.GetAppState().RecentRepos {
+		if isRepo, _ := isDirectoryAGitRepository(repoDir); isRepo {
+			if err := os.Chdir(repoDir); err == nil {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 func (app *App) setupRepo() (bool, error) {
 	if err := app.validateGitVersion(); err != nil {
 		return false, err
@@ -171,6 +184,7 @@ func (app *App) setupRepo() (bool, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return false, err
 		}
+
 		if isRepo, err := isDirectoryAGitRepository(cwd); isRepo {
 			return false, err
 		}
@@ -223,6 +237,28 @@ func (app *App) setupRepo() (bool, error) {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
+	// Run this afterward so that the previous repo creation steps can run without this interfering
+	if isBare, err := git_commands.IsBareRepo(app.OSCommand); isBare {
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, err
+		}
+
+		fmt.Print(app.Tr.BareRepo)
+
+		response, _ := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin).ReadString('\n')
+
+		if shouldOpenRecent := strings.Trim(response, " \r\n") == "y"; !shouldOpenRecent {
+			os.Exit(0)
+		}
+
+		if didOpenRepo := openRecentRepo(app); didOpenRepo {
+			return true, nil
+		}
+
+		fmt.Println(app.Tr.NoRecentRepositories)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
 	return false, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/commands/git_commands/status.go b/pkg/commands/git_commands/status.go
index 50b1fab57..d660dd8b0 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/git_commands/status.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/git_commands/status.go
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@ package git_commands
 
 import (
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 
-	gogit "github.com/jesseduffield/go-git/v5"
+	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/oscommands"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/types/enums"
 )
 
@@ -49,13 +51,21 @@ func (self *StatusCommands) WorkingTreeState() enums.RebaseMode {
 	return enums.REBASE_MODE_NONE
 }
 
+func (self *StatusCommands) IsBareRepo() (bool, error) {
+	return IsBareRepo(self.os)
+}
+
+func IsBareRepo(osCommand *oscommands.OSCommand) (bool, error) {
+	res, err := osCommand.Cmd.New("git rev-parse --is-bare-repository").DontLog().RunWithOutput()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+
+	// The command returns output with a newline, so we need to strip
+	return strconv.ParseBool(strings.TrimSpace(res))
+}
+
 // IsInMergeState states whether we are still mid-merge
 func (self *StatusCommands) IsInMergeState() (bool, error) {
 	return self.os.FileExists(filepath.Join(self.dotGitDir, "MERGE_HEAD"))
 }
-
-func (self *StatusCommands) IsBareRepo() bool {
-	// note: could use `git rev-parse --is-bare-repository` if we wanna drop go-git
-	_, err := self.repo.Worktree()
-	return err == gogit.ErrIsBareRepository
-}
diff --git a/pkg/gui/recent_repos_panel.go b/pkg/gui/recent_repos_panel.go
index 705461726..df7656841 100644
--- a/pkg/gui/recent_repos_panel.go
+++ b/pkg/gui/recent_repos_panel.go
@@ -159,7 +159,12 @@ func (gui *Gui) dispatchSwitchToRepo(path string, reuse bool) error {
 // updateRecentRepoList registers the fact that we opened lazygit in this repo,
 // so that we can open the same repo via the 'recent repos' menu
 func (gui *Gui) updateRecentRepoList() error {
-	if gui.git.Status.IsBareRepo() {
+	isBareRepo, err := gui.git.Status.IsBareRepo()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if isBareRepo {
 		// we could totally do this but it would require storing both the git-dir and the
 		// worktree in our recent repos list, which is a change that would need to be
 		// backwards compatible
diff --git a/pkg/i18n/english.go b/pkg/i18n/english.go
index 6d3e0b111..608ad2f45 100644
--- a/pkg/i18n/english.go
+++ b/pkg/i18n/english.go
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ type TranslationSet struct {
 	DiscardFileChangesPrompt            string
 	DisabledForGPG                      string
 	CreateRepo                          string
+	BareRepo                            string
 	InitialBranch                       string
 	NoRecentRepositories                string
 	IncorrectNotARepository             string
@@ -898,6 +899,7 @@ func EnglishTranslationSet() TranslationSet {
 		DiscardFileChangesPrompt:            "Are you sure you want to discard this commit's changes to this file? If this file was created in this commit, it will be deleted",
 		DisabledForGPG:                      "Feature not available for users using GPG",
 		CreateRepo:                          "Not in a git repository. Create a new git repository? (y/n): ",
+		BareRepo:                            "You've attempted to open Lazygit in a bare repo but Lazygit does not yet support bare repos. Open most recent repo? (y/n) ",
 		InitialBranch:                       "Branch name? (leave empty for git's default): ",
 		NoRecentRepositories:                "Must open lazygit in a git repository. No valid recent repositories. Exiting.",
 		IncorrectNotARepository:             "The value of 'notARepository' is incorrect. It should be one of 'prompt', 'create', 'skip', or 'quit'.",