diff --git a/vcsserver/git.py b/vcsserver/git.py
--- a/vcsserver/git.py
+++ b/vcsserver/git.py
@@ -129,6 +129,15 @@ class GitRemote(object):
         return params
 
     @reraise_safe_exceptions
+    def is_empty(self, wire):
+        repo = self._factory.repo(wire)
+        try:
+            return not repo.head()
+        except Exception:
+            log.exception("failed to read object_store")
+            return True
+
+    @reraise_safe_exceptions
     def add_object(self, wire, content):
         repo = self._factory.repo(wire)
         blob = objects.Blob()
diff --git a/vcsserver/hg.py b/vcsserver/hg.py
--- a/vcsserver/hg.py
+++ b/vcsserver/hg.py
@@ -172,6 +172,16 @@ class HgRemote(object):
         return util.version()
 
     @reraise_safe_exceptions
+    def is_empty(self, wire):
+        repo = self._factory.repo(wire)
+
+        try:
+            return len(repo) == 0
+        except Exception:
+            log.exception("failed to read object_store")
+            return False
+
+    @reraise_safe_exceptions
     def archive_repo(self, archive_path, mtime, file_info, kind):
         if kind == "tgz":
             archiver = archival.tarit(archive_path, mtime, "gz")
diff --git a/vcsserver/svn.py b/vcsserver/svn.py
--- a/vcsserver/svn.py
+++ b/vcsserver/svn.py
@@ -139,6 +139,16 @@ class SvnRemote(object):
             svn_ver = None
         return svn_ver
 
+    @reraise_safe_exceptions
+    def is_empty(self, wire):
+        repo = self._factory.repo(wire)
+
+        try:
+            return self.lookup(wire, -1) == 0
+        except Exception:
+            log.exception("failed to read object_store")
+            return False
+
     def check_url(self, url, config_items):
         # this can throw exception if not installed, but we detect this
         from hgsubversion import svnrepo