diff --git a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonPool.php b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonPool.php
index e6080c5..f79c587 100644
--- a/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonPool.php
+++ b/src/daemon/PhutilDaemonPool.php
@@ -1,245 +1,250 @@
 <?php
 
 final class PhutilDaemonPool extends Phobject {
 
   private $properties = array();
   private $commandLineArguments;
 
   private $overseer;
   private $daemons = array();
   private $argv;
 
   private function __construct() {
     // <empty>
   }
 
   public static function newFromConfig(array $config) {
     PhutilTypeSpec::checkMap(
       $config,
       array(
         'class' => 'string',
         'label' => 'string',
         'argv' => 'optional list<string>',
         'load' => 'optional list<string>',
         'log' => 'optional string|null',
         'pool' => 'optional int',
         'up' => 'optional int',
         'down' => 'optional int',
         'reserve' => 'optional int|float',
       ));
 
     $config = $config + array(
       'argv' => array(),
       'load' => array(),
       'log' => null,
       'pool' => 1,
       'up' => 2,
       'down' => 15,
       'reserve' => 0,
     );
 
     $pool = new self();
     $pool->properties = $config;
 
     return $pool;
   }
 
   public function setOverseer(PhutilDaemonOverseer $overseer) {
     $this->overseer = $overseer;
     return $this;
   }
 
   public function getOverseer() {
     return $this->overseer;
   }
 
   public function setCommandLineArguments(array $arguments) {
     $this->commandLineArguments = $arguments;
     return $this;
   }
 
   public function getCommandLineArguments() {
     return $this->commandLineArguments;
   }
 
   private function newDaemon() {
     $config = $this->properties;
 
     if (count($this->daemons)) {
       $down_duration = $this->getPoolScaledownDuration();
     } else {
       // TODO: For now, never scale pools down to 0.
       $down_duration = 0;
     }
 
     $forced_config = array(
       'down' => $down_duration,
     );
 
     $config = $forced_config + $config;
 
     $config = array_select_keys(
       $config,
       array(
         'class',
         'log',
         'load',
         'argv',
         'down',
       ));
 
     $daemon = PhutilDaemonHandle::newFromConfig($config)
       ->setDaemonPool($this)
       ->setCommandLineArguments($this->getCommandLineArguments());
 
     $daemon_id = $daemon->getDaemonID();
     $this->daemons[$daemon_id] = $daemon;
 
     $daemon->didLaunch();
 
     return $daemon;
   }
 
   public function getDaemons() {
     return $this->daemons;
   }
 
   public function getFutures() {
     $futures = array();
     foreach ($this->getDaemons() as $daemon) {
       $future = $daemon->getFuture();
       if ($future) {
         $futures[] = $future;
       }
     }
 
     return $futures;
   }
 
   public function didReceiveSignal($signal, $signo) {
     foreach ($this->getDaemons() as $daemon) {
       switch ($signal) {
         case PhutilDaemonOverseer::SIGNAL_NOTIFY:
           $daemon->didReceiveNotifySignal($signo);
           break;
         case PhutilDaemonOverseer::SIGNAL_RELOAD:
           $daemon->didReceiveReloadSignal($signo);
           break;
         case PhutilDaemonOverseer::SIGNAL_GRACEFUL:
           $daemon->didReceiveGracefulSignal($signo);
           break;
         case PhutilDaemonOverseer::SIGNAL_TERMINATE:
           $daemon->didReceiveTerminateSignal($signo);
           break;
         default:
           throw new Exception(
             pht(
               'Unknown signal "%s" ("%d").',
               $signal,
               $signo));
       }
     }
   }
 
   public function getPoolLabel() {
     return $this->getPoolProperty('label');
   }
 
   public function getPoolMaximumSize() {
     return $this->getPoolProperty('pool');
   }
 
   public function getPoolScaleupDuration() {
     return $this->getPoolProperty('up');
   }
 
   public function getPoolScaledownDuration() {
     return $this->getPoolProperty('down');
   }
 
   public function getPoolMemoryReserve() {
     return $this->getPoolProperty('reserve');
   }
 
   public function getPoolDaemonClass() {
     return $this->getPoolProperty('class');
   }
 
   private function getPoolProperty($key) {
     return idx($this->properties, $key);
   }
 
   public function updatePool() {
     $daemons = $this->getDaemons();
 
     foreach ($daemons as $key => $daemon) {
       $daemon->update();
 
       if ($daemon->isDone()) {
         unset($daemons[$key]);
       }
     }
 
     $this->updateAutoscale();
   }
 
   private function updateAutoscale() {
     $daemons = $this->getDaemons();
 
     // If this pool is already at the maximum size, we can't launch any new
     // daemons.
     $max_size = $this->getPoolMaximumSize();
     if (count($daemons) >= $max_size) {
       return;
     }
 
     $now = time();
     $scaleup_duration = $this->getPoolScaleupDuration();
 
     foreach ($daemons as $daemon) {
       $busy_epoch = $daemon->getBusyEpoch();
       // If any daemons haven't started work yet, don't scale the pool up.
       if (!$busy_epoch) {
         return;
       }
 
       // If any daemons started work very recently, wait a little while
       // to scale the pool up.
       $busy_for = ($now - $busy_epoch);
       if ($busy_for < $scaleup_duration) {
         return;
       }
     }
 
     // If we have a configured memory reserve for this pool, it tells us that
     // we should not scale up unless there's at least that much memory left
     // on the system (for example, a reserve of 0.25 means that 25% of system
     // memory must be free to autoscale).
-    $reserve = $this->getPoolMemoryReserve();
-    if ($reserve) {
-      // On some systems this may be slightly more expensive than other checks,
-      // so we only do it once we're prepared to scale up.
-      $memory = PhutilSystem::getSystemMemoryInformation();
-      $free_ratio = ($memory['free'] / $memory['total']);
-
-      // If we don't have enough free memory, don't scale.
-      if ($free_ratio <= $reserve) {
-        return;
+
+    // Note that the first daemon is exempt: we'll always launch at least one
+    // daemon, regardless of any memory reservation.
+    if (count($daemons)) {
+      $reserve = $this->getPoolMemoryReserve();
+      if ($reserve) {
+        // On some systems this may be slightly more expensive than other
+        // checks, so we only do it once we're prepared to scale up.
+        $memory = PhutilSystem::getSystemMemoryInformation();
+        $free_ratio = ($memory['free'] / $memory['total']);
+
+        // If we don't have enough free memory, don't scale.
+        if ($free_ratio <= $reserve) {
+          return;
+        }
       }
     }
 
     $this->logMessage(
       'AUTO',
       pht(
         'Scaling pool "%s" up to %s daemon(s).',
         $this->getPoolLabel(),
         new PhutilNumber(count($daemons) + 1)));
 
     $this->newDaemon();
   }
 
   public function logMessage($type, $message, $context = null) {
     return $this->getOverseer()->logMessage($type, $message, $context);
   }
 
 }