diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5e1e20a972..2655417b9b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ NEW FEATURES:
 BUG FIXES:
 
 IMPROVEMENTS:
+* dep ensure does not depend on Go code (#1434)
 
 # v0.4.1
 
diff --git a/cmd/dep/ensure.go b/cmd/dep/ensure.go
index 675a3b6791..e2e2dd30d3 100644
--- a/cmd/dep/ensure.go
+++ b/cmd/dep/ensure.go
@@ -806,9 +806,9 @@ func checkErrors(m map[string]pkgtree.PackageOrErr, ignore *pkgtree.IgnoredRules
 		}
 	}
 
-	// If pkgtree was empty or all dirs lacked any Go code, return an error.
+	// If pkgtree was empty or all dirs lacked any Go code, return a warning.
 	if len(m) == 0 || len(m) == noGoErrors {
-		return true, errors.New("no dirs contained any Go code")
+		return false, errors.New("no dirs contained any Go code")
 	}
 
 	// If all dirs contained build errors, return an error.
diff --git a/cmd/dep/ensure_test.go b/cmd/dep/ensure_test.go
index 0b75d3bfb8..bfa28c38c8 100644
--- a/cmd/dep/ensure_test.go
+++ b/cmd/dep/ensure_test.go
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ func TestCheckErrors(t *testing.T) {
 		fatal       bool
 		pkgOrErrMap map[string]pkgtree.PackageOrErr
 	}{
+		{
+			name:        "noErrorsAndEmpty",
+			fatal:       false,
+			pkgOrErrMap: map[string]pkgtree.PackageOrErr{},
+		},
 		{
 			name:  "noErrors",
 			fatal: false,
@@ -112,7 +117,7 @@ func TestCheckErrors(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 		{
 			name:  "allGoErrors",
-			fatal: true,
+			fatal: false,
 			pkgOrErrMap: map[string]pkgtree.PackageOrErr{
 				"github.com/me/pkg": {
 					Err: &build.NoGoError{},
@@ -137,10 +142,10 @@ func TestCheckErrors(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			fatal, err := checkErrors(tc.pkgOrErrMap, nil)
 			if tc.fatal != fatal {
-				t.Fatalf("expected fatal flag to be %T, got %T", tc.fatal, fatal)
+				t.Fatalf("%s: expected fatal flag to be %t, got %t", tc.name, tc.fatal, fatal)
 			}
 			if err == nil && fatal {
-				t.Fatal("unexpected fatal flag value while err is nil")
+				t.Fatalf("%s: unexpected fatal flag value while err is nil", tc.name)
 			}
 		})
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/final/Gopkg.lock b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/final/Gopkg.lock
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..564dc3799f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/final/Gopkg.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# This file is autogenerated, do not edit; changes may be undone by the next 'dep ensure'.
+
+
+[[projects]]
+  name = "github.com/sdboyer/deptest"
+  packages = ["."]
+  revision = "ff2948a2ac8f538c4ecd55962e919d1e13e74baf"
+  version = "v1.0.0"
+
+[solve-meta]
+  analyzer-name = "dep"
+  analyzer-version = 1
+  inputs-digest = "14c277d5a74cc50b8db330cb7a90eb3d24edf8b8281b6ae02d04968a675a2cd7"
+  solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
+  solver-version = 1
diff --git a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/final/Gopkg.toml b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/final/Gopkg.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e242e02114
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/final/Gopkg.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+
+[[constraint]]
+  name = "github.com/sdboyer/deptest"
+  version = "1.0.0"
diff --git a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/testcase.json b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/testcase.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..51fe4bef25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/add/empty-project/testcase.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  "commands": [
+    ["init", "-no-examples", "-skip-tools"],
+    ["ensure", "-add", "github.com/sdboyer/deptest"]
+  ],
+  "error-expected": "",
+  "vendor-final": [
+    "github.com/sdboyer/deptest"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/final/Gopkg.lock b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/final/Gopkg.lock
deleted file mode 100644
index bef2d0092e..0000000000
--- a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/final/Gopkg.lock
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-# This file is autogenerated, do not edit; changes may be undone by the next 'dep ensure'.
-
-
-[solve-meta]
-  analyzer-name = "dep"
-  analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "ab4fef131ee828e96ba67d31a7d690bd5f2f42040c6766b1b12fe856f87e0ff7"
-  solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
-  solver-version = 1
diff --git a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/final/Gopkg.toml b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/final/Gopkg.toml
deleted file mode 100644
index db111447c2..0000000000
--- a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/final/Gopkg.toml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-
-[prune]
-  go-tests = true
-  unused-packages = true
diff --git a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/testcase.json b/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/testcase.json
deleted file mode 100644
index fede436ff2..0000000000
--- a/cmd/dep/testdata/harness_tests/ensure/pkg-errors/case1/testcase.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "commands": [
-    ["init", "-no-examples", "-skip-tools"],
-    ["ensure", "-update"]
-  ],
-  "error-expected": "no dirs contained any Go code",
-  "vendor-final": []
-}