diff --git a/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/propose/operations/propose.ts b/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/propose/operations/propose.ts
index 568006489e..35da51d12a 100644
--- a/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/propose/operations/propose.ts
+++ b/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/propose/operations/propose.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   SparseMerkleTree,
   jsonifyError,
   domainToChainId,
+  EMPTY_ROOT,
 } from "@connext/nxtp-utils";
 import { BigNumber } from "ethers";
 
@@ -26,7 +27,6 @@ export type ExtraPropagateParam = {
   _fee: string;
   _encodedData: string;
 };
-const EMPTY_ROOT = "0x27ae5ba08d7291c96c8cbddcc148bf48a6d68c7974b94356f53754ef6171d757";
 
 export const proposeHub = async () => {
   const {
diff --git a/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/prover/operations/publisher.ts b/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/prover/operations/publisher.ts
index 5878e62eab..6826f82e04 100644
--- a/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/prover/operations/publisher.ts
+++ b/packages/agents/lighthouse/src/tasks/prover/operations/publisher.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
   RelayerTaskStatus,
   ModeType,
   Snapshot,
+  EMPTY_ROOT,
 } from "@connext/nxtp-utils";
 
 import {
@@ -231,8 +232,11 @@ export const enqueue = async () => {
                     throw new NoTargetMessageRoot(originDomain);
                   }
                   // Count of leafs in aggregate tree at snapshot baseAggregateRoot.
-                  const _baseAggregateRootCount = await database.getAggregateRootCount(snapshot.baseAggregateRoot);
-                  if (!_baseAggregateRootCount) {
+                  const _baseAggregateRootCount =
+                    snapshot.baseAggregateRoot === EMPTY_ROOT
+                      ? 0
+                      : await database.getAggregateRootCount(snapshot.baseAggregateRoot);
+                  if (_baseAggregateRootCount === undefined) {
                     throw new NoAggregateRootCount(snapshot.baseAggregateRoot);
                   }
                   aggregateRootCount = snapshot.roots.length + _baseAggregateRootCount;
@@ -240,7 +244,10 @@ export const enqueue = async () => {
                 }
 
                 // Count of leaf nodes in origin domain`s outbound tree with the targetMessageRoot as root
-                messageRootCount = await database.getMessageRootCount(originDomain, targetMessageRoot);
+                messageRootCount =
+                  targetMessageRoot === EMPTY_ROOT
+                    ? 0
+                    : await database.getMessageRootCount(originDomain, targetMessageRoot);
                 if (messageRootCount === undefined) {
                   throw new NoMessageRootCount(originDomain, targetMessageRoot);
                 }
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/constants/index.ts b/packages/utils/src/constants/index.ts
index eb980e1a46..1cb7e1f09c 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/constants/index.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/constants/index.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 export * from "./abi";
 export * from "./gas";
 export * from "./router";
+export * from "./lighthouse";
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/constants/lighthouse.ts b/packages/utils/src/constants/lighthouse.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a1d0d99d80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/utils/src/constants/lighthouse.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export const EMPTY_ROOT = "0x27ae5ba08d7291c96c8cbddcc148bf48a6d68c7974b94356f53754ef6171d757";