diff --git a/sequencer.c b/sequencer.c
index b4135a78c9..795b370dd3 100644
--- a/sequencer.c
+++ b/sequencer.c
@@ -5502,7 +5502,7 @@ static void todo_list_add_exec_commands(struct todo_list *todo_list,
 	}
 
 	/* insert or append final <commands> */
-	if (insert || nr == todo_list->nr) {
+	if (insert) {
 		ALLOC_GROW(items, nr + commands->nr, alloc);
 		COPY_ARRAY(items + nr, base_items, commands->nr);
 		nr += commands->nr;
diff --git a/t/t3429-rebase-edit-todo.sh b/t/t3429-rebase-edit-todo.sh
index 7024d49ae7..abd66f3602 100755
--- a/t/t3429-rebase-edit-todo.sh
+++ b/t/t3429-rebase-edit-todo.sh
@@ -13,10 +13,15 @@ test_expect_success 'setup' '
 
 test_expect_success 'rebase exec modifies rebase-todo' '
 	todo=.git/rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo &&
-	git rebase HEAD -x "echo exec touch F >>$todo" &&
+	git rebase HEAD~1 -x "echo exec touch F >>$todo" &&
 	test -e F
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'rebase exec with an empty list does not exec anything' '
+	git rebase HEAD -x "true" 2>output &&
+	! grep "Executing: true" output
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'loose object cache vs re-reading todo list' '
 	GIT_REBASE_TODO=.git/rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo &&
 	export GIT_REBASE_TODO &&