diff --git a/.changeset/serious-schools-perform.md b/.changeset/serious-schools-perform.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ed72c655ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/serious-schools-perform.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/exec.build-commands": patch
+---
+
+`approve-builds` command gets the auto-ignore build list and exits early when it is an empty array [#9024](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/pull/9024).
diff --git a/exec/build-commands/src/approveBuilds.ts b/exec/build-commands/src/approveBuilds.ts
index 89a5c5430f..b2a6312175 100644
--- a/exec/build-commands/src/approveBuilds.ts
+++ b/exec/build-commands/src/approveBuilds.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { type Config } from '@pnpm/config'
+import { globalInfo } from '@pnpm/logger'
 import { readProjectManifest } from '@pnpm/read-project-manifest'
 import renderHelp from 'render-help'
 import { prompt } from 'enquirer'
@@ -28,7 +29,10 @@ export function rcOptionsTypes (): Record<string, unknown> {
 export async function handler (opts: ApproveBuildsCommandOpts & RebuildCommandOpts): Promise<void> {
   if (opts.rootProjectManifest == null) return
   const automaticallyIgnoredBuilds = await getAutomaticallyIgnoredBuilds(opts)
-  if (automaticallyIgnoredBuilds == null) return
+  if (!automaticallyIgnoredBuilds?.length) {
+    globalInfo('There are no packages awaiting approval')
+    return
+  }
   const { result } = await prompt({
     choices: sortStrings([...automaticallyIgnoredBuilds]),
     indicator (state: any, choice: any) { // eslint-disable-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any