diff --git a/cli/src/cli_util.rs b/cli/src/cli_util.rs
index f182384e08..7f0111452c 100644
--- a/cli/src/cli_util.rs
+++ b/cli/src/cli_util.rs
@@ -611,6 +611,10 @@ impl CommandHelper {
         &self.app
     }
 
+    /// Canonical form of the current working directory path.
+    ///
+    /// A loaded `Workspace::workspace_root()` also returns a canonical path, so
+    /// relative paths can be easily computed from these paths.
     pub fn cwd(&self) -> &Path {
         &self.cwd
     }
@@ -2954,12 +2958,16 @@ impl CliRunner {
         ui: &mut Ui,
         mut layered_configs: LayeredConfigs,
     ) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
-        let cwd = env::current_dir().map_err(|_| {
-            user_error_with_hint(
-                "Could not determine current directory",
-                "Did you check-out a commit where the directory doesn't exist?",
-            )
-        })?;
+        // `cwd` is canonicalized for consistency with `Workspace::workspace_root()` and
+        // to easily compute relative paths between them.
+        let cwd = env::current_dir()
+            .and_then(|cwd| cwd.canonicalize())
+            .map_err(|_| {
+                user_error_with_hint(
+                    "Could not determine current directory",
+                    "Did you check-out a commit where the directory doesn't exist?",
+                )
+            })?;
         // Use cwd-relative workspace configs to resolve default command and
         // aliases. WorkspaceLoader::init() won't do any heavy lifting other
         // than the path resolution.
@@ -3010,9 +3018,6 @@ impl CliRunner {
             }
         }
 
-        // `cwd` is canonicalized for consistency with `Workspace::workspace_root()` and
-        // to easily compute relative paths between them.
-        let cwd = cwd.canonicalize().unwrap_or(cwd);
         let settings = UserSettings::from_config(config);
         let working_copy_factories = self
             .working_copy_factories
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/git.rs b/cli/src/commands/git.rs
index 0c309c1373..e0cffbcf08 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/git.rs
+++ b/cli/src/commands/git.rs
@@ -492,10 +492,7 @@ fn cmd_git_init(
     command: &CommandHelper,
     args: &GitInitArgs,
 ) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
-    let cwd = command
-        .cwd()
-        .canonicalize()
-        .map_err(|e| user_error_with_message("Could not determine current directory", e))?;
+    let cwd = command.cwd();
     let wc_path = cwd.join(&args.destination);
     let wc_path = file_util::create_or_reuse_dir(&wc_path)
         .and_then(|_| wc_path.canonicalize())
@@ -509,7 +506,7 @@ fn cmd_git_init(
         args.git_repo.as_deref(),
     )?;
 
-    let relative_wc_path = file_util::relative_path(&cwd, &wc_path);
+    let relative_wc_path = file_util::relative_path(cwd, &wc_path);
     writeln!(
         ui.stderr(),
         r#"Initialized repo in "{}""#,
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/init.rs b/cli/src/commands/init.rs
index 3efdeac08b..dcd53dffd6 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/init.rs
+++ b/cli/src/commands/init.rs
@@ -49,10 +49,7 @@ pub(crate) fn cmd_init(
     command: &CommandHelper,
     args: &InitArgs,
 ) -> Result<(), CommandError> {
-    let cwd = command
-        .cwd()
-        .canonicalize()
-        .map_err(|e| user_error_with_message("Could not determine current directory", e))?;
+    let cwd = command.cwd();
     let wc_path = cwd.join(&args.destination);
     let wc_path = file_util::create_or_reuse_dir(&wc_path)
         .and_then(|_| wc_path.canonicalize())
@@ -79,7 +76,7 @@ Set `ui.allow-init-native` to allow initializing a repo with the native backend.
         Workspace::init_local(command.settings(), &wc_path)?;
     }
 
-    let relative_wc_path = file_util::relative_path(&cwd, &wc_path);
+    let relative_wc_path = file_util::relative_path(cwd, &wc_path);
     writeln!(
         ui.stderr(),
         "Initialized repo in \"{}\"",