diff --git a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/angular-elements/angular-elements.compiler.ts b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/angular-elements/angular-elements.compiler.ts
index 34115e70..be7b5889 100644
--- a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/angular-elements/angular-elements.compiler.ts
+++ b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/angular-elements/angular-elements.compiler.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import type { AngularCompilerOptions } from '@angular/compiler-cli';
 import { componentIsApp } from '@teambit/angular-apps';
 import type { AngularEnvOptions } from '@teambit/angular-common';
-import { getNodeModulesPaths } from '@teambit/angular-common';
+import { getNodeModulesPaths, getWorkspace } from '@teambit/angular-common';
 import { RollupCompiler } from './rollup/rollup.compiler';
 import { ApplicationAspect, ApplicationMain } from '@teambit/application';
 import {
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ Built Angular Compositions
     return (context: EnvContext) => {
       const name = options.name || 'angular-elements-compiler';
       const logger = context.createLogger(name);
-      const workspace = context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
+      const workspace = getWorkspace(context);
       const compositions = context.getAspect<CompositionsMain>(CompositionsAspect.id);
       const application = context.getAspect<ApplicationMain>(ApplicationAspect.id);
       const isolator = context.getAspect<IsolatorMain>(IsolatorAspect.id);
diff --git a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/ng-packagr/ng-packagr.compiler.ts b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/ng-packagr/ng-packagr.compiler.ts
index 9cc28892..6a523174 100644
--- a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/ng-packagr/ng-packagr.compiler.ts
+++ b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/ng-packagr/ng-packagr.compiler.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import type { AngularCompilerOptions, ParsedConfiguration } from '@angular/compiler-cli';
 import { componentIsApp } from '@teambit/angular-apps';
-import type { AngularEnvOptions } from '@teambit/angular-common';
-import { getNodeModulesPaths } from '@teambit/angular-common';
+import { AngularEnvOptions, getNodeModulesPaths, getWorkspace } from '@teambit/angular-common';
 import { ApplicationAspect, ApplicationMain } from '@teambit/application';
 import {
   ArtifactDefinition,
@@ -21,11 +20,11 @@ import removeFilesAndEmptyDirsRecursively
   from '@teambit/legacy/dist/utils/fs/remove-files-and-empty-dirs-recursively';
 import { Logger } from '@teambit/logger';
 import { NgccProcessor } from '@teambit/ngcc';
-import { Workspace, WorkspaceAspect } from '@teambit/workspace';
+import { Workspace } from '@teambit/workspace';
+import chalk from 'chalk';
 import { mkdirsSync, outputFileSync } from 'fs-extra';
-import { join, posix, resolve } from 'path';
 import type { NgPackageConfig } from 'ng-packagr/ng-package.schema';
-import chalk from 'chalk';
+import { join, posix, resolve } from 'path';
 
 const ViewEngineTemplateError = `Cannot read property 'type' of null`;
 const NG_PACKAGE_JSON = 'ng-package.json';
@@ -336,7 +335,7 @@ export class NgPackagrCompiler implements Compiler {
   /**
    * given a component, returns the path to the source folder to use for the preview, uses the one
    * in node_modules by default
-   * used by `bit start`
+   * used by `bit start` (so workspace is always available)
    */
   getPreviewComponentRootPath(component: Component): string {
     return this.workspace!.componentDir(component.id, {
@@ -362,7 +361,7 @@ export class NgPackagrCompiler implements Compiler {
       const name = options.name || 'ng-packagr-compiler';
       const ngPackagrModulePath = options.ngPackagrModulePath || require.resolve('ng-packagr');
       const logger = context.createLogger(name);
-      const workspace = context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
+      const workspace = getWorkspace(context);
       const application = context.getAspect<ApplicationMain>(ApplicationAspect.id);
       const depResolver = context.getAspect<DependencyResolverMain>(DependencyResolverAspect.id);
       const isolator = context.getAspect<IsolatorMain>(IsolatorAspect.id);
diff --git a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-bundler.ts b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-bundler.ts
index 25027a9f..8803a401 100644
--- a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-bundler.ts
+++ b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-bundler.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ import {
   AngularEnvOptions,
   BrowserOptions,
   DevServerOptions,
-  getNodeModulesPaths
+  getNodeModulesPaths,
+  getWorkspace
 } from '@teambit/angular-common';
 import { AppBuildContext, ApplicationAspect, ApplicationMain } from '@teambit/application';
 import { BundlerContext } from '@teambit/bundler';
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ export class NgWebpackBundler {
       const name = options.name || 'ng-webpack-bundler';
       const logger = context.createLogger(name);
       const bundlerContext = options.bundlerContext;
-      const workspace = context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
+      const workspace = getWorkspace(context);
       const pkg = context.getAspect<PkgMain>(PkgAspect.id);
       const application = context.getAspect<ApplicationMain>(ApplicationAspect.id);
       const isolator = context.getAspect<IsolatorMain>(IsolatorAspect.id);
diff --git a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-dev-server.ts b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-dev-server.ts
index 0aa2392e..14f566f1 100644
--- a/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-dev-server.ts
+++ b/scopes/dev-services/compiler/webpack/ng-webpack-dev-server.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ import {
   AngularEnvOptions,
   BrowserOptions,
   DevServerOptions,
-  getNodeModulesPaths
+  getNodeModulesPaths,
+  getWorkspace
 } from '@teambit/angular-common';
 import { ApplicationAspect, ApplicationMain } from '@teambit/application';
 import { DevServer, DevServerContext } from '@teambit/bundler';
@@ -22,7 +23,6 @@ import {
   WebpackMain
 } from '@teambit/webpack';
 import { generateTransformers, runTransformers } from '@teambit/webpack.webpack-bundler';
-import { Workspace, WorkspaceAspect } from '@teambit/workspace';
 import { join, posix } from 'path';
 import { Configuration } from 'webpack';
 import {
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ export class NgWebpackDevServer {
       const name = options.name || 'ng-webpack-dev-server';
       const logger = context.createLogger(name);
       const devServerContext = options.devServerContext;
-      const workspace = context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
+      const workspace = getWorkspace(context);
       const webpackMain = context.getAspect<WebpackMain>(WebpackAspect.id);
       const pkg = context.getAspect<PkgMain>(PkgAspect.id);
       const application = context.getAspect<ApplicationMain>(ApplicationAspect.id);
diff --git a/scopes/generators/angular-templates/ng-env/index.ts b/scopes/generators/angular-templates/ng-env/index.ts
index 52a8cb24..9faad359 100644
--- a/scopes/generators/angular-templates/ng-env/index.ts
+++ b/scopes/generators/angular-templates/ng-env/index.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-import { AngularComponentTemplateOptions } from '@teambit/angular-common';
+import { AngularComponentTemplateOptions, getWorkspace } from '@teambit/angular-common';
+import { ComponentID } from '@teambit/component';
 import { EnvContext } from '@teambit/envs';
 import { ComponentContext, ComponentTemplate, ConfigContext } from '@teambit/generator';
 import { PkgAspect, PkgMain } from '@teambit/pkg';
-import { Workspace, WorkspaceAspect } from '@teambit/workspace';
+import { Workspace } from '@teambit/workspace';
 import { eslintConfigFile } from './files/config/eslintrc';
 import { jestConfigFile } from './files/config/jest.config';
 import { prettierConfigFile } from './files/config/prettier.config';
@@ -13,7 +14,6 @@ import { envJsoncFile } from './files/env-jsonc';
 import { indexFile } from './files/index';
 import { hostDependenciesFile } from './files/preview/host-dependencies';
 import { mounterFile } from './files/preview/mounter';
-import { Component, ComponentID } from '@teambit/component';
 
 export class NgEnvTemplate implements ComponentTemplate {
   private constructor(
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ export class NgEnvTemplate implements ComponentTemplate {
     readonly description = 'create a customized Angular env with your configs and tools',
     readonly hidden = false,
     private pkg: PkgMain,
-    private workspace: Workspace,
+    private workspace: Workspace | undefined,
   ) {}
 
   async generateFiles(context: ComponentContext) {
     const aspectId: ComponentID = typeof context.aspectId === 'string' ? ComponentID.fromString(context.aspectId) : context.aspectId;
-    const envComponent = await this.workspace.get(aspectId);
+    const envComponent = await this.workspace!.get(aspectId);
     const envPkgName = this.pkg.getPackageName(envComponent);
     const envId = envComponent.id.toStringWithoutVersion();
     return [
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export class NgEnvTemplate implements ComponentTemplate {
   static from(options: AngularComponentTemplateOptions & { envName: string; angularVersion: number; }) {
     return (context: EnvContext) => {
       const pkg = context.getAspect<PkgMain>(PkgAspect.id);
-      const workspace = context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
+      const workspace = getWorkspace(context);
       return new NgEnvTemplate(
         options.envName,
         options.angularVersion,
diff --git a/scopes/versions/common/angular-apps/angular.app-type.ts b/scopes/versions/common/angular-apps/angular.app-type.ts
index 11ba603a..cd339982 100644
--- a/scopes/versions/common/angular-apps/angular.app-type.ts
+++ b/scopes/versions/common/angular-apps/angular.app-type.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-import { GenericAngularEnv } from '@teambit/angular-common';
+import { GenericAngularEnv, getWorkspace } from '@teambit/angular-common';
 import { Application, ApplicationType } from '@teambit/application';
 import { DependencyResolverAspect, DependencyResolverMain } from '@teambit/dependency-resolver';
 import { EnvContext, EnvHandler } from '@teambit/envs';
-import { Workspace, WorkspaceAspect } from '@teambit/workspace';
+import { Workspace } from '@teambit/workspace';
 import { AngularAppOptions } from './angular-app-options';
 import { AngularApp } from './angular.application';
 import { NG_APP_NAME } from './utils';
@@ -29,10 +29,7 @@ export class AngularAppType implements ApplicationType<AngularAppOptions> {
     return (context: EnvContext) => {
       const name = options.name || NG_APP_NAME;
       const depsResolver = context.getAspect<DependencyResolverMain>(DependencyResolverAspect.id);
-      let workspace: Workspace | undefined;
-      try {
-        workspace = context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
-      } catch (err) {}
+      const workspace = getWorkspace(context);
       return new AngularAppType(name, options.angularEnv, context, depsResolver, workspace);
     };
   }
diff --git a/scopes/versions/common/angular-common/utils.ts b/scopes/versions/common/angular-common/utils.ts
index c258255b..8d79c19e 100644
--- a/scopes/versions/common/angular-common/utils.ts
+++ b/scopes/versions/common/angular-common/utils.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,22 @@
 import { ComponentID } from "@teambit/component";
+import { EnvContext } from "@teambit/envs";
 import { IsolatorMain } from "@teambit/isolator";
-import { Workspace } from "@teambit/workspace";
+import { Workspace, WorkspaceAspect } from '@teambit/workspace';
 import { resolve } from 'path';
 
+/**
+ * Returns the workspace instance from the context, if it's available, or undefined otherwise.
+ */
+export function getWorkspace(context: EnvContext): Workspace | undefined {
+  // TODO: replace this try catch with context.hasAspect once it's available from harmony
+  try {
+    return context.getAspect<Workspace>(WorkspaceAspect.id);
+  } catch (err) {
+    // Ignore this. We might be running not from within a workspace, for example, when using bit sign.
+  }
+  return undefined;
+}
+
 export function getNodeModulesPaths(build: boolean, isolator: IsolatorMain, workspace?: Workspace): string[] {
   if (!workspace) {
     return [];