diff --git a/.changeset/famous-stingrays-stare.md b/.changeset/famous-stingrays-stare.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..070adeea4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/famous-stingrays-stare.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@xata.io/cli': patch
+---
+
+Add ability to interactively select branch on xata init when main branch does not exist
diff --git a/cli/src/base.ts b/cli/src/base.ts
index 5dacc4473..a2921fc3e 100644
--- a/cli/src/base.ts
+++ b/cli/src/base.ts
@@ -346,7 +346,13 @@ export abstract class BaseCommand<T extends typeof Command> extends Command {
     workspace: string,
     region: string,
     database: string,
-    options: { allowEmpty?: boolean; allowCreate?: boolean; title?: string } = {}
+    options: {
+      allowEmpty?: boolean;
+      allowCreate?: boolean;
+      title?: string;
+      // Branch to default if exists
+      defaultBranch?: string;
+    } = {}
   ): Promise<string> {
     const xata = await this.getXataClient();
     const { branches = [] } = await xata.api.branches.getBranchList({ workspace, region, database });
@@ -354,6 +360,10 @@ export abstract class BaseCommand<T extends typeof Command> extends Command {
     const EMPTY_CHOICE = '$empty';
     const CREATE_CHOICE = '$create';
 
+    if (options.defaultBranch && branches.map(({ name }) => name).includes(options.defaultBranch)) {
+      return options.defaultBranch;
+    }
+
     if (branches.length > 0) {
       const choices = branches.map((db) => ({
         title: db.name,
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/codegen/index.ts b/cli/src/commands/codegen/index.ts
index 9a06ee095..3945d1fef 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/codegen/index.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands/codegen/index.ts
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ export default class Codegen extends BaseCommand<typeof Codegen> {
     this.log(`Generated Xata code to ./${relative(process.cwd(), output)}`);
   }
 
-  static async runIfConfigured(projectConfig?: ProjectConfig) {
-    if (projectConfig?.codegen?.output) return Codegen.run([]);
+  static async runIfConfigured(projectConfig?: ProjectConfig, flags?: any[]) {
+    if (projectConfig?.codegen?.output) return Codegen.run(flags ?? []);
   }
 }
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/init/index.test.ts b/cli/src/commands/init/index.test.ts
index a801ba68d..9cf3cd582 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/init/index.test.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands/init/index.test.ts
@@ -58,8 +58,16 @@ const fetchImplementation = (url: string, request: any) => {
       ok: true,
       json: async () => ({ meta: { cursor: '', more: false }, logs: [] })
     };
+  } else if (url === `https://test-1234.${REGION}.xata.sh/dbs/db1` && request.method === 'GET') {
+    return {
+      ok: true,
+      json: async () => {
+        return {
+          branches: [{ name: 'main', id: 'main' }]
+        };
+      }
+    };
   }
-
   throw new Error(`Unexpected fetch request: ${url} ${request.method}`);
 };
 
diff --git a/cli/src/commands/init/index.ts b/cli/src/commands/init/index.ts
index eb19578cf..5733624ba 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands/init/index.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands/init/index.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ const packageManagers = {
   }
 };
 
+const DEFAULT_BRANCH = 'main';
+
 const isPackageManagerInstalled = (packageManager: PackageManager) =>
   which.sync(packageManager.command, { nothrow: true });
 
@@ -134,6 +136,16 @@ export default class Init extends BaseCommand<typeof Init> {
 
     const { workspace, region, database, databaseURL } = await this.getParsedDatabaseURL(flags.db, true);
 
+    const detectedBranch = this.getCurrentBranchName();
+    const branch =
+      detectedBranch === DEFAULT_BRANCH
+        ? await this.getBranch(workspace, region, database, {
+            allowCreate: false,
+            allowEmpty: false,
+            defaultBranch: DEFAULT_BRANCH
+          })
+        : detectedBranch;
+
     this.projectConfig = { databaseURL };
     const ignoreEnvFile = await this.promptIgnoreEnvFile();
 
@@ -146,7 +158,7 @@ export default class Init extends BaseCommand<typeof Init> {
     await this.writeConfig();
     this.log();
 
-    await this.writeEnvFile(workspace, region, database);
+    await this.writeEnvFile(workspace, region, database, branch);
 
     if (ignoreEnvFile) {
       await this.ignoreEnvFile();
@@ -157,14 +169,13 @@ export default class Init extends BaseCommand<typeof Init> {
       await this.installPackage(packageManager, '@xata.io/client');
     }
 
-    const branch = this.getCurrentBranchName();
     if (schema) {
       await this.deploySchema(workspace, region, database, branch, schema);
     }
 
     // Run pull to retrieve remote migrations, remove any local migrations, and generate code
     await Pull.run([branch, '-f', '--skip-code-generation']);
-    await Codegen.runIfConfigured(this.projectConfig);
+    await Codegen.runIfConfigured(this.projectConfig, [`--branch=${branch}`]);
 
     await this.delay(1000);
 
@@ -194,7 +205,7 @@ export default class Init extends BaseCommand<typeof Init> {
           }columns at https://app.xata.io/workspaces/${workspace}/dbs/${database}:${region}`
         );
         this.log();
-        this.info(`Use ${chalk.bold(`xata pull main`)} to regenerate code and types from your Xata database`);
+        this.info(`Use ${chalk.bold(`xata pull ${branch}`)} to regenerate code and types from your Xata database`);
       } else {
         this.log(`To make your first query:`);
         this.log(``);
@@ -375,7 +386,7 @@ export default class Init extends BaseCommand<typeof Init> {
     return envFile;
   }
 
-  async writeEnvFile(workspace: string, region: string, database: string) {
+  async writeEnvFile(workspace: string, region: string, database: string, branch: string) {
     const envFile = await this.findEnvFile();
     const doesEnvFileExist = await this.access(envFile);
 
@@ -398,7 +409,7 @@ export default class Init extends BaseCommand<typeof Init> {
     if (containsXataApiKey) {
       this.warn(`Your ${envFile} file already contains XATA_API_KEY key. skipping...`);
     } else {
-      const setBranch = `XATA_BRANCH=main`;
+      const setBranch = `XATA_BRANCH=${branch}`;
       if (content) content += '\n\n';
       content += '# [Xata] Configuration used by the CLI and the SDK\n';
       content += '# Make sure your framework/tooling loads this file on startup to have it available for the SDK\n';