Currently, whenever the database is empty, you are redirected to the layer index, independently of the value of TEMPLATE_INSTANCE. We need a special state for the prs landing page for when the database is empty that explains what the problem is and how to fix it.
The new version of RRS solved this problem, https://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit/cgit.cgi/poky-contrib/log/?h=alimon/RRS-squash
verified