diff --git a/packages/@sanity/cli/src/util/remoteTemplate.ts b/packages/@sanity/cli/src/util/remoteTemplate.ts
index 992837060dc..17acc20a08f 100644
--- a/packages/@sanity/cli/src/util/remoteTemplate.ts
+++ b/packages/@sanity/cli/src/util/remoteTemplate.ts
@@ -217,9 +217,11 @@ export async function applyEnvVariables(
       await access(join(root, file))
       return file
     }),
-  ).catch(() => {
-    throw new Error('Could not find .env.template, .env.example or .env.local.example file')
-  })
+  ).catch(() => undefined)
+
+  if (!templatePath) {
+    return // No template .env file found, skip
+  }
 
   try {
     const templateContent = await readFile(join(root, templatePath), 'utf8')