diff --git a/builtin/worktree.c b/builtin/worktree.c
index fc31d072a620d7..8d1b3fd854979f 100644
--- a/builtin/worktree.c
+++ b/builtin/worktree.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "builtin.h"
 #include "abspath.h"
 #include "advice.h"
+#include "gvfs.h"
 #include "checkout.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "copy.h"
@@ -1412,6 +1413,13 @@ int cmd_worktree(int ac,
 
 	git_config(git_worktree_config, NULL);
 
+	/*
+	 * git-worktree is special-cased to work in Scalar repositories
+	 * even when they use the GVFS Protocol.
+	 */
+	if (core_gvfs & GVFS_USE_VIRTUAL_FILESYSTEM)
+		die("'git %s' is not supported on a GVFS repo", "worktree");
+
 	if (!prefix)
 		prefix = "";
 
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index fbc1838905ad9e..01261d76d6dc59 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -722,7 +722,7 @@ static struct cmd_struct commands[] = {
 	{ "verify-tag", cmd_verify_tag, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "version", cmd_version },
 	{ "whatchanged", cmd_whatchanged, RUN_SETUP },
-	{ "worktree", cmd_worktree, RUN_SETUP | BLOCK_ON_GVFS_REPO },
+	{ "worktree", cmd_worktree, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "write-tree", cmd_write_tree, RUN_SETUP },
 };
 
diff --git a/gvfs.h b/gvfs.h
index e193502151467a..a8e58a6ebc88b8 100644
--- a/gvfs.h
+++ b/gvfs.h
@@ -14,7 +14,18 @@
 #define GVFS_SKIP_SHA_ON_INDEX                      (1 << 0)
 #define GVFS_BLOCK_COMMANDS                         (1 << 1)
 #define GVFS_MISSING_OK                             (1 << 2)
+
+/*
+ * This behavior of not deleting outside of the sparse-checkout
+ * is specific to the virtual filesystem support. It is only
+ * enabled by VFS for Git, and so can be used as an indicator
+ * that we are in a virtualized filesystem environment and not
+ * in a Scalar environment. This bit has two names to reflect
+ * that.
+ */
 #define GVFS_NO_DELETE_OUTSIDE_SPARSECHECKOUT       (1 << 3)
+#define GVFS_USE_VIRTUAL_FILESYSTEM                 (1 << 3)
+
 #define GVFS_FETCH_SKIP_REACHABILITY_AND_UPLOADPACK (1 << 4)
 #define GVFS_BLOCK_FILTERS_AND_EOL_CONVERSIONS      (1 << 6)