diff --git a/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsnodetreebuilder.cpp b/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsnodetreebuilder.cpp
index db80627f68f..bc4bd6504ee 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsnodetreebuilder.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qbsprojectmanager/qbsnodetreebuilder.cpp
@@ -192,6 +192,9 @@ namespace Internal {
 
 QbsRootProjectNode *QbsNodeTreeBuilder::buildTree(QbsProject *project)
 {
+    if (!project->qbsProjectData().isValid())
+        return nullptr;
+
     auto root = new QbsRootProjectNode(project);
     setupProjectNode(root, project->qbsProjectData(), project->qbsProject());
     auto buildSystemFiles