diff --git a/src/screen.c b/src/screen.c
index f62ed97..fb62bac 100644
--- a/src/screen.c
+++ b/src/screen.c
@@ -158,9 +158,19 @@ WScreen *wScreenInit(int screen_number)
 	wm_backend->monitors_select_events(scr);
 	wm_backend->screen_set_root_cursor(scr, WCUR_ROOT);
 
-	/* Wayland path: screen_open() sets geometry; X11/wrlib context not needed. */
-	if (!dpy)
+	/* Wayland path: screen_open() sets geometry; X11/wrlib context not needed.
+	 * Allocate workspace 0 directly (wWorkspaceNew is unsafe here because it
+	 * calls wDockCreate which requires X11 rendering resources). */
+	if (!dpy) {
+		WWorkspace *wspace = wmalloc(sizeof(WWorkspace));
+		wspace->name = wstrdup("Workspace 1");
+		wspace->clip = NULL;
+		wspace->map  = NULL;
+		scr->workspaces = wmalloc(sizeof(WWorkspace *));
+		scr->workspaces[0] = wspace;
+		scr->workspace_count = 1;
 		goto screen_done;
+	}
 
 	/* screen descriptor for raster graphic library */
 	rattr.flags = RC_RenderMode | RC_ColorsPerChannel | RC_StandardColormap;