diff --git a/catfs/vcs/change.go b/catfs/vcs/change.go
index 94800b23..e454c399 100644
--- a/catfs/vcs/change.go
+++ b/catfs/vcs/change.go
@@ -234,6 +234,10 @@ func replayAddMoveMapping(lkr *c.Linker, oldPath, newPath string) error {
 func replayRemove(lkr *c.Linker, ch *Change) error {
 	currNd, err := lkr.LookupModNode(ch.Curr.Path())
 	if err != nil {
+		// file doesn't exist locally, nothing to do
+		if ie.IsNoSuchFileError(err) {
+			return nil
+		}
 		return e.Wrapf(err, "replay: lookup: %v", ch.Curr.Path())
 	}