diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractActionInputPrefetcher.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractActionInputPrefetcher.java
index 8b96ded0a78712..ed261abfde5210 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractActionInputPrefetcher.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractActionInputPrefetcher.java
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 // limitations under the License.
 package com.google.devtools.build.lib.remote;
 
-import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkState;
 import static com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors.directExecutor;
 import static com.google.devtools.build.lib.remote.util.RxFutures.toCompletable;
@@ -183,13 +182,16 @@ protected ListenableFuture<Void> prefetchFiles(
     Map<SpecialArtifact, List<TreeFileArtifact>> trees = new HashMap<>();
     List<ActionInput> files = new ArrayList<>();
     for (ActionInput input : inputs) {
-      checkArgument(!input.isDirectory(), "cannot prefetch a directory");
-
       // Source artifacts don't need to be fetched.
       if (input instanceof Artifact && ((Artifact) input).isSourceArtifact()) {
         continue;
       }
 
+      // Skip empty tree artifacts (non-empty tree artifacts should have already been expanded).
+      if (input.isDirectory()) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
       if (input instanceof TreeFileArtifact) {
         TreeFileArtifact treeFile = (TreeFileArtifact) input;
         SpecialArtifact treeArtifact = treeFile.getParent();
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/BuildWithoutTheBytesIntegrationTestBase.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/BuildWithoutTheBytesIntegrationTestBase.java
index 50c42e13168699..942f5eae1c44bf 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/BuildWithoutTheBytesIntegrationTestBase.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/BuildWithoutTheBytesIntegrationTestBase.java
@@ -579,6 +579,31 @@ public void treeOutputsFromLocalFileSystem_works() throws Exception {
     assertValidOutputFile("out/foobar.txt", "file-1\nbar\n");
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void emptyTreeConsumedByLocalAction() throws Exception {
+    // Disable remote execution so that the empty tree artifact is prefetched.
+    addOptions("--modify_execution_info=Genrule=+no-remote-exec");
+    setDownloadToplevel();
+    writeOutputDirRule();
+    write(
+        "BUILD",
+        "load(':output_dir.bzl', 'output_dir')",
+        "output_dir(",
+        "  name = 'foo',",
+        "  manifest = ':manifest',",
+        ")",
+        "genrule(",
+        "  name = 'foobar',",
+        "  srcs = [':foo'],",
+        "  outs = ['foobar.txt'],",
+        "  cmd = 'touch $@',",
+        ")");
+    write("manifest"); // no files
+
+    buildTarget("//:foobar");
+    waitDownloads();
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void multiplePackagePaths_buildsSuccessfully() throws Exception {
     write(