diff --git a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/command/mod/BlazeModRunnerImpl.java b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/command/mod/BlazeModRunnerImpl.java
index f85fa9ce9fb..3d543d3c160 100644
--- a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/command/mod/BlazeModRunnerImpl.java
+++ b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/command/mod/BlazeModRunnerImpl.java
@@ -38,6 +38,19 @@
 
 public class BlazeModRunnerImpl extends BlazeModRunner {
 
+  private static final String DUMP_REPO_MAPPING = "dump_repo_mapping";
+  private static final String ROOT_WORKSPACE = "";
+
+  /**
+   * {@code bazel mod dump_repo_mapping} takes a canonical repository name and will dump a map from
+   * repoName -> canonicalName of all the external repositories available to that repository The
+   * name {@code ""} is special and considered to be <em>the main workspace</em> so in order to dump
+   * the main repository map we would invoke it like {@code bazel mod dump_repo_mapping ""}.
+   *
+   * <p>Additionally the flag {@code --enable_workspace} needs to be off for this to work. The flag
+   * is default off in bazel 8.0.0 but it is on between 7.1.0 and 8.0.0. So we need to also pass
+   * this along in between those versions for the command to work well.
+   */
   @Override
   public ListenableFuture<ExternalWorkspaceData> dumpRepoMapping(
       Project project,
@@ -45,10 +58,17 @@ public ListenableFuture<ExternalWorkspaceData> dumpRepoMapping(
       BlazeContext context,
       BuildSystemName buildSystemName,
       List<String> flags) {
+
+    // TODO: when 8.0.0 is released add this only if it's disabled explicitly for the repo
+    flags.add("--noenable_workspace");
+
     return Futures.transform(
-        runBlazeModGetBytes(project, invoker, context, ImmutableList.of( "dump_repo_mapping", "workspace"), flags),
+        runBlazeModGetBytes(
+            project, invoker, context, ImmutableList.of(DUMP_REPO_MAPPING, ROOT_WORKSPACE), flags),
         bytes -> {
-          JsonObject json = JsonParser.parseString(new String(bytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).trim()).getAsJsonObject();
+          JsonObject json =
+              JsonParser.parseString(new String(bytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8).trim())
+                  .getAsJsonObject();
 
           ImmutableList<ExternalWorkspace> externalWorkspaces =
               json.entrySet().stream()
@@ -70,21 +90,22 @@ protected ListenableFuture<byte[]> runBlazeModGetBytes(
       List<String> args,
       List<String> flags) {
     return BlazeExecutor.getInstance()
-               .submit(() -> {
-                 BlazeCommand.Builder builder =
-                     BlazeCommand.builder(invoker, BlazeCommandName.MOD)
-                         .addBlazeFlags(flags);
+        .submit(
+            () -> {
+              BlazeCommand.Builder builder =
+                  BlazeCommand.builder(invoker, BlazeCommandName.MOD).addBlazeFlags(flags);
 
-                 if (args != null) {
-                   builder.addBlazeFlags(args);
-                 }
+              if (args != null) {
+                builder.addBlazeFlags(args);
+              }
 
-                 try (BuildResultHelper buildResultHelper = invoker.createBuildResultHelper()) {
-                   BlazeCommandRunner runner = invoker.getCommandRunner();
-                   try (InputStream stream = runner.runBlazeMod(project, builder, buildResultHelper, context)) {
-                     return stream.readAllBytes();
-                   }
-                 }
-               });
+              try (BuildResultHelper buildResultHelper = invoker.createBuildResultHelper()) {
+                BlazeCommandRunner runner = invoker.getCommandRunner();
+                try (InputStream stream =
+                    runner.runBlazeMod(project, builder, buildResultHelper, context)) {
+                  return stream.readAllBytes();
+                }
+              }
+            });
   }
 }
diff --git a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/model/ExternalWorkspaceDataProvider.java b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/model/ExternalWorkspaceDataProvider.java
index 21ebefc744b..8e5a748aa02 100644
--- a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/model/ExternalWorkspaceDataProvider.java
+++ b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/model/ExternalWorkspaceDataProvider.java
@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@ public static ExternalWorkspaceDataProvider getInstance(Project project) {
   }
 
   static Boolean isEnabled(BlazeVersionData blazeVersionData) {
-    // disable this until a more reliable opt-in mechanism is chosen.
-    //
-    // bg: some blaze workspaces with blaze > MINIMUM_BLAZE_VERSION
-    // have explicitly disabled this bzlmod support and this causes
-    // `blaze mod` to fail.
-    return blazeVersionData.bazelIsAtLeastVersion(MINIMUM_BLAZE_VERSION) && Registry.is("bazel.read.external.workspace.data");
+    if (!Registry.is("bazel.read.external.workspace.data")) {
+      logger.info("disabled by registry");
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    return blazeVersionData.bazelIsAtLeastVersion(MINIMUM_BLAZE_VERSION);
   }
 
   public ListenableFuture<ExternalWorkspaceData> getExternalWorkspaceData(
diff --git a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/ProjectStateSyncTask.java b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/ProjectStateSyncTask.java
index 8bbdcb1a480..8696f18bfd2 100644
--- a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/ProjectStateSyncTask.java
+++ b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/sync/ProjectStateSyncTask.java
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ private ExternalWorkspaceData getExternalWorkspaceData(
       SyncMode syncMode)
       throws SyncCanceledException, SyncFailedException {
 
-    List<String> syncFlags =
+    List<String> blazeModFlags =
         BlazeFlags.blazeFlags(
             project,
             projectViewSet,
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ private ExternalWorkspaceData getExternalWorkspaceData(
 
     ListenableFuture<ExternalWorkspaceData> externalWorkspaceDataFuture =
         ExternalWorkspaceDataProvider.getInstance(project)
-            .getExternalWorkspaceData(context, syncFlags, blazeVersionData, blazeInfo);
+            .getExternalWorkspaceData(context, blazeModFlags, blazeVersionData, blazeInfo);
 
     FutureResult<ExternalWorkspaceData> externalWorkspaceDataResult =
         FutureUtil.waitForFuture(context, externalWorkspaceDataFuture)