diff --git a/crates/project/src/git_store.rs b/crates/project/src/git_store.rs
index aaf66e8ea98110fda096e56aa4287af3b15b4725..debb1c643b06b06c0fd52cfcc65c92c210502b7b 100644
--- a/crates/project/src/git_store.rs
+++ b/crates/project/src/git_store.rs
@@ -2692,6 +2692,7 @@ impl MergeDetails {
         status: &SumTree<StatusEntry>,
         prev_snapshot: &RepositorySnapshot,
     ) -> Result<(MergeDetails, bool)> {
+        log::debug!("load merge details");
         let message = backend.merge_message().await;
         let heads = backend
             .revparse_batch(vec![
@@ -2709,12 +2710,33 @@ impl MergeDetails {
             .collect::<Vec<_>>();
         let merge_heads_changed = heads != prev_snapshot.merge.heads;
         let conflicted_paths = if merge_heads_changed {
-            TreeSet::from_ordered_entries(
+            let current_conflicted_paths = TreeSet::from_ordered_entries(
                 status
                     .iter()
                     .filter(|entry| entry.status.is_conflicted())
                     .map(|entry| entry.repo_path.clone()),
-            )
+            );
+
+            // It can happen that we run a scan while a lengthy merge is in progress
+            // that will eventually result in conflicts, but before those conflicts
+            // are reported by `git status`. Since for the moment we only care about
+            // the merge heads state for the purposes of tracking conflicts, don't update
+            // this state until we see some conflicts.
+            if heads.iter().any(Option::is_some)
+                && !prev_snapshot.merge.heads.iter().any(Option::is_some)
+                && current_conflicted_paths.is_empty()
+            {
+                log::debug!("not updating merge heads because no conflicts found");
+                return Ok((
+                    MergeDetails {
+                        message: message.map(SharedString::from),
+                        ..prev_snapshot.merge.clone()
+                    },
+                    false,
+                ));
+            }
+
+            current_conflicted_paths
         } else {
             prev_snapshot.merge.conflicted_paths.clone()
         };
@@ -3998,6 +4020,8 @@ impl Repository {
             Some(GitJobKey::ReloadGitState),
             None,
             |state, mut cx| async move {
+                log::debug!("run scheduled git status scan");
+
                 let Some(this) = this.upgrade() else {
                     return Ok(());
                 };
@@ -4535,6 +4559,7 @@ async fn compute_snapshot(
     );
     let (merge_details, merge_heads_changed) =
         MergeDetails::load(&backend, &statuses_by_path, &prev_snapshot).await?;
+    log::debug!("new merge details (changed={merge_heads_changed:?}): {merge_details:?}");
 
     if merge_heads_changed
         || branch != prev_snapshot.branch