diff --git a/tests/test-treemanifest-treeonly.t b/tests/test-treemanifest-treeonly.t
--- a/tests/test-treemanifest-treeonly.t
+++ b/tests/test-treemanifest-treeonly.t
@@ -425,20 +425,35 @@
   > [treemanifest]
   > treeonly=False
   > EOF
+  $ cp .hg/store/00manifest.i .hg/store/00manifest.i.bak
+  $ cp .hg/store/00changelog.i .hg/store/00changelog.i.bak
+
+- Auto-backfill on pull
   $ hg pull
+  backfilling missing flat manifests
+  adding changesets
+  adding manifests
+  adding file changes
+  added 0 changesets with 0 changes to 0 files
   pulling from ssh://user@dummy/master
   searching for changes
   adding changesets
   adding manifests
-  transaction abort!
-  rollback completed
-  abort: 00manifest.i@d9920715ba88: unknown parent!
-  [255]
+  adding file changes
+  added 1 changesets with 0 changes to 0 files (+1 heads)
+  new changesets 4f84204095e0
+  (run 'hg heads .' to see heads, 'hg merge' to merge)
+
+  $ cp .hg/store/00manifest.i.bak .hg/store/00manifest.i
+  $ cp .hg/store/00changelog.i.bak .hg/store/00changelog.i
+
+- Manually backfill via command
   $ hg backfillmanifestrevlog
   adding changesets
   adding manifests
   adding file changes
   added 0 changesets with 0 changes to 0 files
+
   $ hg pull
   pulling from ssh://user@dummy/master
   searching for changes
diff --git a/treemanifest/__init__.py b/treemanifest/__init__.py
--- a/treemanifest/__init__.py
+++ b/treemanifest/__init__.py
@@ -1272,6 +1272,18 @@
         return repo.ui.config('paths', 'default')
 
 def pull(orig, ui, repo, *pats, **opts):
+    # If we're not in treeonly mode, and we're missing public commits from the
+    # revlog, backfill them.
+    if not ui.configbool('treemanifest', 'treeonly'):
+        tippublicrevs = repo.revs('last(public())')
+        if tippublicrevs:
+            ctx = repo[tippublicrevs.first()]
+            mfnode = ctx.manifestnode()
+            mfrevlog = repo.manifestlog._revlog
+            if mfnode not in mfrevlog.nodemap:
+                ui.status(_("backfilling missing flat manifests\n"))
+                backfillmanifestrevlog(ui, repo)
+
     # If special arguments were passed, we can't reuse the pull connection
     if opts.get('ssh') or opts.get('remotecmd'):
         return orig(ui, repo, *pats, **opts)