diff --git a/src/cli/utils.ts b/src/cli/utils.ts
index 8396d1a..e1e7415 100644
--- a/src/cli/utils.ts
+++ b/src/cli/utils.ts
@@ -11,19 +11,25 @@ export function resolvePath(raw: string): string {
   return resolve(raw);
 }
 
-export function ensureWorkspace(rawPath: string): string {
+export function ensureWorkspace(rawPath: string, createIfMissing = true): string {
   const path = resolvePath(rawPath);
   if (!existsSync(path)) {
-    mkdirSync(path, { recursive: true });
+    if (createIfMissing) {
+      mkdirSync(path, { recursive: true });
+    } else {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Workspace does not exist: ${path}\nRun 'nanobot onboard' to initialize.`,
+      );
+    }
   }
   return path;
 }
 
 export function syncTemplates(workspacePath: string): string[] {
-  // Get project root relative to this file
+  // Get project root relative to this file (src/cli/utils.ts)
   const currentFile = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
   const srcDir = dirname(currentFile);
-  const projectRoot = resolve(srcDir, '..');
+  const projectRoot = resolve(srcDir, '..', '..');
   const templatesDir = resolve(projectRoot, 'templates');
 
   if (!existsSync(templatesDir)) {