diff --git a/Command/ConfigList.hs b/Command/ConfigList.hs
index 58b7388645..219685c21c 100644
--- a/Command/ConfigList.hs
+++ b/Command/ConfigList.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {- git-annex command
  -
- - Copyright 2010 Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>
+ - Copyright 2010-2014 Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>
  -
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ module Command.ConfigList where
 import Common.Annex
 import Command
 import Annex.UUID
+import Annex.Init
+import qualified Annex.Branch
 import qualified Git.Config
 import Remote.GCrypt (coreGCryptId)
 
@@ -22,9 +24,23 @@ seek = withNothing start
 
 start :: CommandStart
 start = do
-	u <- getUUID
+	u <- findOrGenUUID
 	showConfig "annex.uuid" $ fromUUID u
 	showConfig coreGCryptId =<< fromRepo (Git.Config.get coreGCryptId "")
 	stop
   where
   	showConfig k v = liftIO $ putStrLn $ k ++ "=" ++ v
+
+{- The repository may not yet have a UUID; automatically initialize it
+ - when there's a git-annex branch available. -}
+findOrGenUUID :: Annex UUID
+findOrGenUUID = do
+	u <- getUUID
+	if u /= NoUUID
+		then return u
+		else ifM Annex.Branch.hasSibling
+			( do
+				initialize Nothing
+				getUUID
+			, return NoUUID
+			)
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 9cd685c934..eee5509bac 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ git-annex (5.20140321) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * forget --drop-dead: Avoid removing the dead remote from the trust.log,
     so that if git remotes for it still exist anywhere, git annex info
     will still know it's dead and not show it.
+  * git-annex-shell: Make configlist automatically initialize
+    a remote git repository, as long as a git-annex branch has
+    been pushed to it, to simplify setup of remote git repositories,
+    including via gitolite.
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Fri, 21 Mar 2014 14:08:41 -0400
 
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-shell.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-shell.mdwn
index c866154acb..c015a7bda8 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-shell.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-shell.mdwn
@@ -26,7 +26,12 @@ first "/~/" or "/~user/" is expanded to the specified home directory.
 * configlist directory
 
   This outputs a subset of the git configuration, in the same form as
-  `git config --list`
+  `git config --list`. This is used to get the annex.uuid of the remote
+  repository.
+
+  When run in a repository that does not yet have an annex.uuid, one
+  will be created, as long as a git-annex branch has already been pushed to
+  the repository.
 
 * inannex directory [key ...]