diff --git a/src/lib/application.ts b/src/lib/application.ts
index 0771db607..437aa052c 100644
--- a/src/lib/application.ts
+++ b/src/lib/application.ts
@@ -212,17 +212,22 @@ export class Application extends ChildableComponent<
 
         // This might be a solution style tsconfig, in which case we need to add a program for each
         // reference so that the converter can look through each of these.
-        const resolvedReferences = programs[0].getResolvedProjectReferences();
-        for (const ref of resolvedReferences ?? []) {
-            if (!ref) continue; // This indicates bad configuration... will be reported later.
-
-            programs.push(
-                ts.createProgram({
-                    options: ref.commandLine.options,
-                    rootNames: ref.commandLine.fileNames,
-                    projectReferences: ref.commandLine.projectReferences,
-                })
+        if (programs[0].getRootFileNames().length === 0) {
+            this.logger.verbose(
+                "tsconfig appears to be a solution style tsconfig - creating programs for references"
             );
+            const resolvedReferences = programs[0].getResolvedProjectReferences();
+            for (const ref of resolvedReferences ?? []) {
+                if (!ref) continue; // This indicates bad configuration... will be reported later.
+
+                programs.push(
+                    ts.createProgram({
+                        options: ref.commandLine.options,
+                        rootNames: ref.commandLine.fileNames,
+                        projectReferences: ref.commandLine.projectReferences,
+                    })
+                );
+            }
         }
 
         this.logger.verbose(`Converting with ${programs.length} programs`);