diff --git a/cli/src/cli_util.rs b/cli/src/cli_util.rs
index 18a46bfd7..8bc3e9905 100644
--- a/cli/src/cli_util.rs
+++ b/cli/src/cli_util.rs
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ impl CommandHelper {
     #[instrument(skip(self, ui))]
     pub fn workspace_helper(&self, ui: &mut Ui) -> Result<WorkspaceCommandHelper, CommandError> {
         let mut workspace_command = self.workspace_helper_no_snapshot(ui)?;
-        workspace_command.snapshot(ui)?;
+        workspace_command.maybe_snapshot(ui)?;
         Ok(workspace_command)
     }
 
@@ -795,7 +795,7 @@ impl WorkspaceCommandHelper {
     /// Snapshot the working copy if allowed, and import Git refs if the working
     /// copy is collocated with Git.
     #[instrument(skip_all)]
-    pub fn snapshot(&mut self, ui: &mut Ui) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
+    pub fn maybe_snapshot(&mut self, ui: &mut Ui) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
         if self.may_update_working_copy {
             if self.working_copy_shared_with_git {
                 self.import_git_refs_and_head(ui)?;
@@ -1297,7 +1297,7 @@ Set which revision the branch points to with `jj branch set {branch_name} -r <RE
     }
 
     #[instrument(skip_all)]
-    pub fn snapshot_working_copy(&mut self, ui: &mut Ui) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
+    fn snapshot_working_copy(&mut self, ui: &mut Ui) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
         let workspace_id = self.workspace_id().to_owned();
         let get_wc_commit = |repo: &ReadonlyRepo| -> Result<Option<_>, _> {
             repo.view()
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/init.rs b/cli/src/commands/init.rs
index b261903c2..b30998003 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/init.rs
+++ b/cli/src/commands/init.rs
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ pub(crate) fn cmd_init(
             Workspace::init_external_git(command.settings(), &wc_path, &git_store_path)?;
         let mut workspace_command = command.for_loaded_repo(ui, workspace, repo)?;
         git::maybe_add_gitignore(&workspace_command)?;
-        workspace_command.snapshot(ui)?;
+        workspace_command.maybe_snapshot(ui)?;
         if !workspace_command.working_copy_shared_with_git() {
             let mut tx = workspace_command.start_transaction();
             let stats = jj_lib::git::import_some_refs(
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/workspace.rs b/cli/src/commands/workspace.rs
index cd413a300..c15f5614f 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/workspace.rs
+++ b/cli/src/commands/workspace.rs
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ fn cmd_workspace_update_stale(
     // fine if we picked the new wc_commit_id.
     let known_wc_commit = {
         let mut workspace_command = command.for_stale_working_copy(ui)?;
-        workspace_command.snapshot(ui)?;
+        workspace_command.maybe_snapshot(ui)?;
         let wc_commit_id = workspace_command.get_wc_commit_id().unwrap();
         workspace_command.repo().store().get_commit(wc_commit_id)?
     };