diff --git a/components/polylith/commands/create.py b/components/polylith/commands/create.py
index 8488de30..a43973c7 100644
--- a/components/polylith/commands/create.py
+++ b/components/polylith/commands/create.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ def create(name: Union[str, None], description: Union[str, None], fn):
 
     if not namespace:
         raise ValueError(
-            "Didn't find a namespace. Expected to find it in workspace.toml."
+            "Didn't find a namespace. Expected to find it under [tool.polylith] in workspace.toml or pyproject.toml."
         )
 
     options = {
diff --git a/components/polylith/repo/repo.py b/components/polylith/repo/repo.py
index 55fc74a3..37894d51 100644
--- a/components/polylith/repo/repo.py
+++ b/components/polylith/repo/repo.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from typing import Union
 
 workspace_file = "workspace.toml"
+root_file = ".git"
 default_toml = "pyproject.toml"
 readme_file = "README.md"
 
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ def is_drive_root(cwd: Path) -> bool:
 
 
 def is_repo_root(cwd: Path) -> bool:
-    fullpath = cwd / ".git"
+    fullpath = cwd / root_file
 
     return fullpath.exists()
 
@@ -43,7 +44,10 @@ def find_upwards_dir(cwd: Path, name: str) -> Union[Path, None]:
 
 
 def find_workspace_root(cwd: Path) -> Union[Path, None]:
-    return find_upwards_dir(cwd, workspace_file)
+    workspace_root = find_upwards_dir(cwd, workspace_file)
+    if workspace_root:
+        return workspace_root
+    return find_upwards_dir(cwd, root_file)
 
 
 def get_workspace_root(cwd: Path) -> Path:
@@ -51,7 +55,7 @@ def get_workspace_root(cwd: Path) -> Path:
 
     if not root:
         raise ValueError(
-            "Didn't find the workspace root. Expected to find a workspace.toml file."
+            "Didn't find the workspace root. Expected to find a workspace.toml or .git file."
         )
 
     return root
diff --git a/components/polylith/workspace/parser.py b/components/polylith/workspace/parser.py
index 02559eed..b0ae2fba 100644
--- a/components/polylith/workspace/parser.py
+++ b/components/polylith/workspace/parser.py
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 def _load_workspace_config(path: Path) -> tomlkit.TOMLDocument:
     fullpath = path / repo.workspace_file
 
+    if not fullpath.exists():
+        fullpath = path / repo.default_toml
+
     content = fullpath.read_text()
 
     return tomlkit.loads(content)