diff --git a/app/views/shared/_ref_switcher.html.haml b/app/views/shared/_ref_switcher.html.haml
index 6356e9f92cb..f4a4bfaec54 100644
--- a/app/views/shared/_ref_switcher.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/shared/_ref_switcher.html.haml
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+- show_create = local_assigns.fetch(:show_create, false)
+
 - show_new_branch_form = show_new_repo? && show_create && can?(current_user, :push_code, @project)
 - dropdown_toggle_text = @ref || @project.default_branch
 = form_tag switch_project_refs_path(@project), method: :get, class: "project-refs-form" do
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/39821-fix-commits-list-with-multi-file-editor.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/39821-fix-commits-list-with-multi-file-editor.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8b27c43d15b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/39821-fix-commits-list-with-multi-file-editor.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Fix commits page throwing 500 when the multi-file editor was enabled
+merge_request: 15502
+author:
+type: fixed
diff --git a/spec/features/commits_spec.rb b/spec/features/commits_spec.rb
index b163ca8dc75..98586ddbd81 100644
--- a/spec/features/commits_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/commits_spec.rb
@@ -200,5 +200,12 @@ describe 'Commits' do
         expect(page).to have_content("committed #{commit.committed_date.strftime("%b %d, %Y")}")
       end
     end
+
+    it 'shows the ref switcher with the multi-file editor enabled', :js do
+      set_cookie('new_repo', 'true')
+      visit project_commits_path(project, branch_name)
+
+      expect(find('.js-project-refs-dropdown')).to have_content branch_name
+    end
   end
 end