diff --git a/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java b/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java
index 9d10e6684b..e446fdb877 100644
--- a/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java
+++ b/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Daemon.java
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ import com.google.gerrit.server.config.MasterNodeStartup;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.contact.HttpContactStoreConnection;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.git.ReceiveCommitsExecutorModule;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.git.WorkQueue;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.index.DummyIndexModule;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.index.IndexModule;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.index.IndexModule.IndexType;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.mail.SignedTokenEmailTokenVerifier;
@@ -357,6 +358,9 @@ public class Daemon extends SiteProgram {
   }
 
   private AbstractModule createIndexModule() {
+    if (slave) {
+      return new DummyIndexModule();
+    }
     IndexType indexType = IndexModule.getIndexType(cfgInjector);
     switch (indexType) {
       case LUCENE:
diff --git a/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Reindex.java b/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Reindex.java
index 11bcee78d9..7f5186e95b 100644
--- a/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Reindex.java
+++ b/gerrit-pgm/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/pgm/Reindex.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import com.google.gerrit.extensions.registration.DynamicSet;
 import com.google.gerrit.lifecycle.LifecycleManager;
 import com.google.gerrit.lifecycle.LifecycleModule;
 import com.google.gerrit.lucene.LuceneIndexModule;
+import com.google.gerrit.pgm.util.Die;
 import com.google.gerrit.pgm.util.SiteProgram;
 import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Change;
 import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Project;
@@ -124,6 +125,7 @@ public class Reindex extends SiteProgram {
   private boolean dryRun;
 
   private Injector dbInjector;
+  private Config cfg;
   private Injector sysInjector;
   private ChangeIndex index;
 
@@ -131,6 +133,9 @@ public class Reindex extends SiteProgram {
   public int run() throws Exception {
     mustHaveValidSite();
     dbInjector = createDbInjector(MULTI_USER);
+    cfg = dbInjector.getInstance(
+        Key.get(Config.class, GerritServerConfig.class));
+    checkNotSlaveMode();
     limitThreads();
     disableLuceneAutomaticCommit();
     if (version == null) {
@@ -160,9 +165,13 @@ public class Reindex extends SiteProgram {
     return result;
   }
 
+  private void checkNotSlaveMode() throws Die {
+    if (cfg.getBoolean("container", "slave", false)) {
+      throw die("Cannot run reindex in slave mode");
+    }
+  }
+
   private void limitThreads() {
-    Config cfg =
-        dbInjector.getInstance(Key.get(Config.class, GerritServerConfig.class));
     boolean usePool = cfg.getBoolean("database", "connectionpool",
         dbInjector.getInstance(DataSourceType.class).usePool());
     int poolLimit = cfg.getInt("database", "poollimit",
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/DummyIndex.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/DummyIndex.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9f1c353876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/DummyIndex.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2014 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.google.gerrit.server.index;
+
+import com.google.gerrit.server.query.Predicate;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.query.QueryParseException;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.query.change.ChangeData;
+import com.google.gerrit.server.query.change.ChangeDataSource;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class DummyIndex implements ChangeIndex {
+
+  @Override
+  public Schema<ChangeData> getSchema() {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void close() {
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void insert(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void replace(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void delete(ChangeData cd) throws IOException {
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void deleteAll() throws IOException {
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public ChangeDataSource getSource(Predicate<ChangeData> p, int start,
+      int limit) throws QueryParseException {
+    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void markReady(boolean ready) throws IOException {
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/DummyIndexModule.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/DummyIndexModule.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dd7d2d89ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/server/index/DummyIndexModule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2014 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package com.google.gerrit.server.index;
+
+import com.google.inject.AbstractModule;
+
+public class DummyIndexModule extends AbstractModule {
+
+  @Override
+  protected void configure() {
+    install(new IndexModule(1));
+    bind(ChangeIndex.class).toInstance(new DummyIndex());
+  }
+}
diff --git a/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/commands/Query.java b/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/commands/Query.java
index a6a6932df7..63b7ab6596 100644
--- a/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/commands/Query.java
+++ b/gerrit-sshd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/sshd/commands/Query.java
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.sshd.commands;
 
-import static com.google.gerrit.sshd.CommandMetaData.Mode.MASTER_OR_SLAVE;
-
 import com.google.gerrit.server.query.change.QueryProcessor;
 import com.google.gerrit.sshd.CommandMetaData;
 import com.google.gerrit.sshd.SshCommand;
@@ -26,8 +24,7 @@ import org.kohsuke.args4j.Option;
 
 import java.util.List;
 
-@CommandMetaData(name = "query", description = "Query the change database",
-  runsAt = MASTER_OR_SLAVE)
+@CommandMetaData(name = "query", description = "Query the change database")
 class Query extends SshCommand {
   @Inject
   private QueryProcessor processor;