diff --git a/src/applications/diffusion/protocol/DiffusionRepositoryClusterEngine.php b/src/applications/diffusion/protocol/DiffusionRepositoryClusterEngine.php
--- a/src/applications/diffusion/protocol/DiffusionRepositoryClusterEngine.php
+++ b/src/applications/diffusion/protocol/DiffusionRepositoryClusterEngine.php
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@
     if ($this_version) {
       $this_version = (int)$this_version->getRepositoryVersion();
     } else {
-      $this_version = -1;
+      $this_version = null;
     }
 
     if ($versions) {
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@
       // leader, we want to fetch from a leader and then update our version.
 
       $max_version = (int)max(mpull($versions, 'getRepositoryVersion'));
-      if ($max_version > $this_version) {
+      if (($this_version === null) || ($max_version > $this_version)) {
         if ($repository->isHosted()) {
           $fetchable = array();
           foreach ($versions as $version) {
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@
             }
           }
 
+
           $this->synchronizeWorkingCopyFromDevices(
             $fetchable,
             $this_version,
@@ -445,10 +446,10 @@
     if ($this_version) {
       $this_version = (int)$this_version->getRepositoryVersion();
     } else {
-      $this_version = -1;
+      $this_version = null;
     }
 
-    if ($new_version > $this_version) {
+    if (($this_version === null) || ($new_version > $this_version)) {
       PhabricatorRepositoryWorkingCopyVersion::updateVersion(
         $repository_phid,
         $device_phid,