diff --git a/tag.c b/tag.c
index 80fd00c..86b8406 100644
--- a/tag.c
+++ b/tag.c
@@ -399,8 +399,10 @@ sbuf_strcat(struct sbuf *s1, const char *s2)
 char *
 tags_expand_template(const char *template, const struct tag_set *tags)
 {
-    struct sbuf formatted = {0};
+    if (template == NULL)
+        return NULL;
 
+    struct sbuf formatted = {0};
     while (true) {
         /* Find next tag opening '{' */
         const char *begin = strchr(template, '{');