diff --git a/osc/commandline.py b/osc/commandline.py
index 987e25e914..344ea98191 100644
--- a/osc/commandline.py
+++ b/osc/commandline.py
@@ -7390,7 +7390,10 @@ def do_build(self, subcmd, opts, *args):
 
         if not opts.local_package:
             store = osc_store.get_store(Path.cwd(), print_warnings=True)
-            store.assert_is_package()
+            if isinstance(store, git_scm.store.GitStore):
+                opts.local_package = True
+            else:
+                store.assert_is_package()
 
             try:
                 if opts.alternative_project and opts.alternative_project == store.project:
@@ -7404,6 +7407,7 @@ def do_build(self, subcmd, opts, *args):
             except oscerr.NoWorkingCopy:
                 store = None
 
+
         # HACK: avoid calling some underlying store_*() functions from parse_repoarchdescr() method
         # We'll fix parse_repoarchdescr() later because it requires a larger change
         if not opts.alternative_project and isinstance(store, git_scm.GitStore):
diff --git a/osc/git_scm/store.py b/osc/git_scm/store.py
index e72ef0dff5..ba03af6e17 100644
--- a/osc/git_scm/store.py
+++ b/osc/git_scm/store.py
@@ -31,8 +31,15 @@ def __init__(self, path, check=True):
         self.abspath = os.path.abspath(self.path)
 
         # TODO: how to determine if the current git repo contains a project or a package?
-        self.is_project = False
-        self.is_package = os.path.exists(os.path.join(self.abspath, ".git"))
+
+        # NOTE: we have only one store in project-git for all packages
+        self._toplevel = self._run_git(["rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"])
+        if self._toplevel == self.abspath:
+            self.is_project = True
+            self.is_package = False
+        else:
+            self.is_project = False
+            self.is_package = True
 
         self._package = None
         self._project = None
@@ -68,11 +75,17 @@ def apiurl(self):
 
     @property
     def project(self):
+        if self._project is None:
+            if self._toplevel:
+                with open(os.path.join(self._toplevel, '.osc/_project')) as f:
+                    self._project = f.readline().strip()
+
         if self._project is None:
             # get project from the branch name
             branch = self._run_git(["branch", "--show-current"])
 
             # HACK: replace hard-coded mapping with metadata from git or the build service
+            # NOTE: you never know which git repo is supposed to be used in which project
             if branch == "factory":
                 self._project = "openSUSE:Factory"
             else:
diff --git a/osc/store.py b/osc/store.py
index cf4d8bc352..a315a15a14 100644
--- a/osc/store.py
+++ b/osc/store.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 
 import os
+import subprocess
 from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
 
 from . import oscerr
@@ -29,6 +30,17 @@ def get_store(path, check=True, print_warnings=False):
             git_scm.warn_experimental()
     else:
         store = None
+        try:
+            toplevel = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "--show-toplevel"],
+                                               encoding="utf-8",
+                                               stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL).strip()
+            if toplevel:
+                store = git_scm.GitStore(toplevel, check)
+                if print_warnings:
+                    git_scm.warn_experimental()
+        except:
+            # we nay should distinguish between git cli fails or git is not installed
+            pass
 
     if not store:
         msg = f"Directory '{path}' is not a working copy"