diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f25f4c2c..8b065162 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,3 +20,10 @@ jobs:
         with:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 ```
+
+## Known limitations
+
+These are some known limitations of this action. I'd like to try to address them in the future.
+
+- Non-linear releases aren't supported. For example, releasing a patch to a prior major release after a new major release has been bumped.
+- The first release for a project will be ignored. This is intentional, as the use case is unlikely. Most projects will either have several alphas that don't need release comments, or won't use issues/PRs for the first commit.
diff --git a/dst/index.js b/dst/index.js
index 448b843d..d70e5614 100644
--- a/dst/index.js
+++ b/dst/index.js
@@ -93,6 +93,14 @@ var closesMatcher = /aria-label="This commit closes issue #(\d+)\."/g;
                     return [4 /*yield*/, octokit_1.repos.listReleases(__assign(__assign({}, github.context.repo), { per_page: 2 }))];
                 case 1:
                     releases = (_c.sent()).data;
+                    if (releases.length < 2) {
+                        if (!releases.length) {
+                            core.error("no releases found");
+                            return [2 /*return*/];
+                        }
+                        core.info("first release");
+                        return [2 /*return*/];
+                    }
                     _a = __read(releases, 2), currentRelease = _a[0], priorRelease = _a[1];
                     return [4 /*yield*/, octokit_1.repos.compareCommits(__assign(__assign({}, github.context.repo), { base: priorRelease.tag_name, head: currentRelease.tag_name }))];
                 case 2:
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index fbacddcd..2e69081d 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,16 @@ const closesMatcher = /aria-label="This commit closes issue #(\d+)\."/g;
       per_page: 2,
     });
 
+    if (releases.length < 2) {
+      if (!releases.length) {
+        core.error("no releases found");
+        return;
+      }
+
+      core.info("first release");
+      return;
+    }
+
     const [currentRelease, priorRelease] = releases;
 
     const {