diff --git a/endpoints/v1/index.py b/endpoints/v1/index.py
index b15af1b84..c9a4c72dd 100644
--- a/endpoints/v1/index.py
+++ b/endpoints/v1/index.py
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ def put_repository_auth(namespace_name, repo_name):
 @process_auth
 @anon_protect
 def get_search():
-  query = request.args.get('q')
+  query = request.args.get('q') or ''
 
   try:
     limit = min(100, max(1, int(request.args.get('n', 25))))
@@ -327,8 +327,13 @@ def _conduct_repo_search(username, query, limit=25, page=1):
   page = min(page, _MAX_PAGE_COUNT)
 
   only_public = username is None
-  matching_repos = model.get_sorted_matching_repositories(query, only_public, can_read,
-                                                          limit=limit*_MAX_PAGE_COUNT)
+
+  if query:
+    matching_repos = model.get_sorted_matching_repositories(query, only_public, can_read,
+                                                            limit=limit*_MAX_PAGE_COUNT)
+  else:
+    matching_repos = []
+
   results = []
   for repo in matching_repos[(page - 1) * _MAX_PAGE_COUNT:limit]:
     results.append({