diff --git a/changelog/@unreleased/pr-775.v2.yml b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-775.v2.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..99987b71a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-775.v2.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+type: improvement
+improvement:
+  description: baseline-circleci now validates that the rootProject.name isn't the
+    CircleCI default (`project`) as can interfere with publishing.
+  links:
+  - https://github.com/palantir/gradle-baseline/pull/775
diff --git a/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineCircleCi.java b/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineCircleCi.java
index 5a9cde063..0bb127bb1 100644
--- a/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineCircleCi.java
+++ b/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineCircleCi.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package com.palantir.baseline.plugins;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.base.Splitter;
 import com.palantir.configurationresolver.ConfigurationResolverPlugin;
 import com.palantir.gradle.junit.JunitReportsExtension;
@@ -46,6 +47,11 @@ public void apply(Project project) {
 
         configurePluginsForReports(project);
         configurePluginsForArtifacts(project);
+
+        Preconditions.checkState(
+                !project.getName().equals("project"),
+                "Please specify rootProject.name in your settings.gradle, otherwise CircleCI's"
+                        + "checkout dir ('project') will be used instead.");
     }
 
     private void configurePluginsForArtifacts(Project project) {