diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md b/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md
index 2cafd773c..ed1ea2557 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## [UNRELEASED]
 
 - Fix a bug where database upgrades could not be resolved if some of the target pack's dependencies are outside of the workspace. [#1138](https://github.com/github/vscode-codeql/pull/1138)
+- Fix a bug where queries took a long time to run if there are no folders in the workspace. [#1157](https://github.com/github/vscode-codeql/pull/1157)
 
 ## 1.5.11 - 10 February 2022
 
diff --git a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/cli.ts b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/cli.ts
index c4c34d159..370cf8618 100644
--- a/extensions/ql-vscode/src/cli.ts
+++ b/extensions/ql-vscode/src/cli.ts
@@ -514,8 +514,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
   async resolveLibraryPath(workspaces: string[], queryPath: string): Promise<QuerySetup> {
     const subcommandArgs = [
       '--query', queryPath,
-      '--additional-packs',
-      workspaces.join(path.delimiter)
+      ...this.getAdditionalPacksArg(workspaces)
     ];
     return await this.runJsonCodeQlCliCommand<QuerySetup>(['resolve', 'library-path'], subcommandArgs, 'Resolving library paths');
   }
@@ -528,8 +527,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
     const subcommandArgs = [
       '--format', 'bylanguage',
       queryUri.fsPath,
-      '--additional-packs',
-      workspaces.join(path.delimiter)
+      ...this.getAdditionalPacksArg(workspaces)
     ];
     return JSON.parse(await this.runCodeQlCliCommand(['resolve', 'queries'], subcommandArgs, 'Resolving query by language'));
   }
@@ -584,7 +582,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
   ): AsyncGenerator<TestCompleted, void, unknown> {
 
     const subcommandArgs = this.cliConfig.additionalTestArguments.concat([
-      '--additional-packs', workspaces.join(path.delimiter),
+      ...this.getAdditionalPacksArg(workspaces),
       '--threads',
       this.cliConfig.numberTestThreads.toString(),
       ...testPaths
@@ -606,8 +604,12 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
 
   /** Resolves the ML models that should be available when evaluating a query. */
   async resolveMlModels(additionalPacks: string[]): Promise<MlModelsInfo> {
-    return await this.runJsonCodeQlCliCommand<MlModelsInfo>(['resolve', 'ml-models'], ['--additional-packs',
-      additionalPacks.join(path.delimiter)], 'Resolving ML models', false);
+    return await this.runJsonCodeQlCliCommand<MlModelsInfo>(
+      ['resolve', 'ml-models'],
+      this.getAdditionalPacksArg(additionalPacks),
+      'Resolving ML models',
+      false
+    );
   }
 
   /**
@@ -772,7 +774,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
    * @returns A list of database upgrade script directories
    */
   async resolveUpgrades(dbScheme: string, searchPath: string[], allowDowngradesIfPossible: boolean, targetDbScheme?: string): Promise<UpgradesInfo> {
-    const args = ['--additional-packs', searchPath.join(path.delimiter), '--dbscheme', dbScheme];
+    const args = [...this.getAdditionalPacksArg(searchPath), '--dbscheme', dbScheme];
     if (targetDbScheme) {
       args.push('--target-dbscheme', targetDbScheme);
       if (allowDowngradesIfPossible && await this.cliConstraints.supportsDowngrades()) {
@@ -794,7 +796,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
    * @returns A dictionary mapping qlpack name to the directory it comes from
    */
   resolveQlpacks(additionalPacks: string[], searchPath?: string[]): Promise<QlpacksInfo> {
-    const args = ['--additional-packs', additionalPacks.join(path.delimiter)];
+    const args = this.getAdditionalPacksArg(additionalPacks);
     if (searchPath?.length) {
       args.push('--search-path', path.join(...searchPath));
     }
@@ -840,7 +842,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
    * @returns A list of query files found.
    */
   async resolveQueriesInSuite(suite: string, additionalPacks: string[], searchPath?: string[]): Promise<string[]> {
-    const args = ['--additional-packs', additionalPacks.join(path.delimiter)];
+    const args = this.getAdditionalPacksArg(additionalPacks);
     if (searchPath !== undefined) {
       args.push('--search-path', path.join(...searchPath));
     }
@@ -873,8 +875,7 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
       '-o',
       outputPath,
       dir,
-      '--additional-packs',
-      workspaceFolders.join(path.delimiter)
+      ...this.getAdditionalPacksArg(workspaceFolders)
     ];
     if (!precompile && await this.cliConstraints.supportsNoPrecompile()) {
       args.push('--no-precompile');
@@ -929,6 +930,12 @@ export class CodeQLCliServer implements Disposable {
         throw new Error('No distribution found');
     }
   }
+
+  private getAdditionalPacksArg(paths: string[]): string[] {
+    return paths.length
+      ? ['--additional-packs', paths.join(path.delimiter)]
+      : [];
+  }
 }
 
 /**