diff --git a/olmocr/pipeline.py b/olmocr/pipeline.py
index 1b8efb1..c4e3c29 100644
--- a/olmocr/pipeline.py
+++ b/olmocr/pipeline.py
@@ -1051,8 +1051,11 @@ async def main():
     await download_model(args.model)
 
     # Initialize the work queue
-    await work_queue.initialize_queue()
+    qsize = await work_queue.initialize_queue()
 
+    if qsize == 0:
+        logger.info("No work to do, exiting")
+        return
     # Create a semaphore to control worker access
     # We only allow one worker to move forward with requests, until the server has no more requests in its queue
     # This lets us get full utilization by having many workers, but also to be outputting dolma docs as soon as possible
diff --git a/olmocr/work_queue.py b/olmocr/work_queue.py
index 8d6be16..32e0903 100644
--- a/olmocr/work_queue.py
+++ b/olmocr/work_queue.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class WorkQueue(abc.ABC):
         pass
 
     @abc.abstractmethod
-    async def initialize_queue(self) -> None:
+    async def initialize_queue(self) -> int:
         """
         Load the work queue from the relevant store (local or remote)
         and initialize it for processing.
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ class LocalWorkQueue(WorkQueue):
             # Write the combined data back to disk in zstd CSV format
             await asyncio.to_thread(upload_zstd_csv_local, self._index_path, combined_lines)
 
-    async def initialize_queue(self) -> None:
+    async def initialize_queue(self) -> int:
         """
         Load the work queue from the local index file and initialize it for processing.
         Removes already completed work items and randomizes the order.
@@ -282,6 +282,8 @@ class LocalWorkQueue(WorkQueue):
 
         logger.info(f"Initialized local queue with {self._queue.qsize()} work items")
 
+        return self._queue.qsize()
+
     async def is_completed(self, work_hash: str) -> bool:
         """
         Check if a work item has been completed locally by seeing if
@@ -459,7 +461,7 @@ class S3WorkQueue(WorkQueue):
         if new_groups:
             await asyncio.to_thread(upload_zstd_csv, self.s3_client, self._index_path, combined_lines)
 
-    async def initialize_queue(self) -> None:
+    async def initialize_queue(self) -> int:
         """
         Load the work queue from S3 and initialize it for processing.
         Removes already completed work items and randomizes the order.
@@ -492,6 +494,8 @@ class S3WorkQueue(WorkQueue):
 
         logger.info(f"Initialized queue with {self._queue.qsize()} work items")
 
+        return self._queue.qsize()
+
     async def is_completed(self, work_hash: str) -> bool:
         """
         Check if a work item has been completed.