diff --git a/lib/src/repo.rs b/lib/src/repo.rs
index 7b5b2a607..b0292d0e7 100644
--- a/lib/src/repo.rs
+++ b/lib/src/repo.rs
@@ -767,7 +767,10 @@ impl MutableRepo {
             .view
             .with_ref(|v| v.get_wc_commit_id(&workspace_id).cloned());
         if let Some(wc_commit_id) = maybe_wc_commit_id {
-            let wc_commit = self.store().get_commit(&wc_commit_id).unwrap();
+            let wc_commit = self
+                .store()
+                .get_commit(&wc_commit_id)
+                .map_err(EditCommitError::WorkingCopyCommitNotFound)?;
             if wc_commit.is_empty()
                 && wc_commit.description().is_empty()
                 && self.view().heads().contains(wc_commit.id())
@@ -1108,6 +1111,8 @@ pub struct RewriteRootCommit;
 /// Error from attempts to edit a commit
 #[derive(Debug, Error)]
 pub enum EditCommitError {
+    #[error("Current working-copy commit not found: {0}")]
+    WorkingCopyCommitNotFound(BackendError),
     #[error("Cannot rewrite the root commit")]
     RewriteRootCommit,
 }
diff --git a/tests/test_edit_command.rs b/tests/test_edit_command.rs
index dfdc15e7c..beaab3dfc 100644
--- a/tests/test_edit_command.rs
+++ b/tests/test_edit_command.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 use std::path::Path;
 
-use crate::common::TestEnvironment;
+use crate::common::{get_stderr_string, TestEnvironment};
 
 pub mod common;
 
@@ -62,6 +62,48 @@ fn test_edit() {
     "###);
 }
 
+#[test]
+// Windows says "Access is denied" when trying to delete the object file.
+#[cfg(unix)]
+fn test_edit_current_wc_commit_missing() {
+    // Test that we get a reasonable error message when the current working-copy
+    // commit is missing
+    let test_env = TestEnvironment::default();
+    test_env.jj_cmd_success(test_env.env_root(), &["init", "repo", "--git"]);
+    let repo_path = test_env.env_root().join("repo");
+    test_env.jj_cmd_success(&repo_path, &["commit", "-m", "first"]);
+    test_env.jj_cmd_success(&repo_path, &["describe", "-m", "second"]);
+    test_env.jj_cmd_success(&repo_path, &["edit", "@-"]);
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(get_log_output(&test_env, &repo_path), @r###"
+    o 5c52832c3483 second
+    @ 69542c1984c1 first
+    o 000000000000 (no description set)
+    "###);
+
+    // Make the Git backend fail to read the current working copy commit
+    let commit_object_path = repo_path
+        .join(".jj")
+        .join("repo")
+        .join("store")
+        .join("git")
+        .join("objects")
+        .join("69")
+        .join("542c1984c1f9d91f7c6c9c9e6941782c944bd9");
+    std::fs::remove_file(commit_object_path).unwrap();
+
+    // Pass --no-commit-working-copy to avoid triggering the error at snapshot time
+    let assert = test_env
+        .jj_cmd(
+            &repo_path,
+            &["edit", "--no-commit-working-copy", "5c52832c3483"],
+        )
+        .assert()
+        .code(255);
+    insta::assert_snapshot!(get_stderr_string(&assert), @r###"
+    Internal error: Failed to edit a commit: Current working-copy commit not found: Object 69542c1984c1f9d91f7c6c9c9e6941782c944bd9 of type commit not found: object not found - no match for id (69542c1984c1f9d91f7c6c9c9e6941782c944bd9); class=Odb (9); code=NotFound (-3)
+    "###);
+}
+
 fn read_file(path: &Path) -> String {
     String::from_utf8(std::fs::read(path).unwrap()).unwrap()
 }