diff --git a/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pxd b/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pxd
index dd26c7ae50f..c2713f678f3 100644
--- a/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pxd
+++ b/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pxd
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ cdef class DatabaseConnectionView:
     cdef tx_error(self)
 
     cdef start(self, query_unit)
-    cdef _start_tx(self)
+    cdef start_tx(self)
     cdef _apply_in_tx(self, query_unit)
     cdef start_implicit(self, query_unit)
     cdef on_error(self)
diff --git a/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pyx b/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pyx
index bb56c62372d..8c6b7baad9f 100644
--- a/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pyx
+++ b/edb/server/dbview/dbview.pyx
@@ -750,15 +750,12 @@ cdef class DatabaseConnectionView:
 
         if query_unit.tx_id is not None:
             self._txid = query_unit.tx_id
-            self._start_tx()
-
-        if self._in_tx and not self._txid:
-            raise errors.InternalServerError('unset txid in transaction')
+            self.start_tx()
 
         if self._in_tx:
             self._apply_in_tx(query_unit)
 
-    cdef _start_tx(self):
+    cdef start_tx(self):
         state_serializer = self.get_state_serializer()
         self._in_tx = True
         self._in_tx_config = self._config
@@ -793,7 +790,7 @@ cdef class DatabaseConnectionView:
             self.raise_in_tx_error()
 
         if not self._in_tx:
-            self._start_tx()
+            self.start_tx()
 
         self._apply_in_tx(query_unit)
 
diff --git a/edb/server/protocol/execute.pyx b/edb/server/protocol/execute.pyx
index 5631df1c7e3..e1f61b28dbe 100644
--- a/edb/server/protocol/execute.pyx
+++ b/edb/server/protocol/execute.pyx
@@ -65,9 +65,6 @@ async def execute(
     *,
     fe_conn: frontend.AbstractFrontendConnection = None,
     use_prep_stmt: bint = False,
-    # HACK: A hook from the notebook ext, telling us to skip dbview.start
-    # so that it can handle things differently.
-    skip_start: bint = False,
 ):
     cdef:
         bytes state = None, orig_state = None
@@ -89,8 +86,7 @@ async def execute(
             # the current status in be_conn is in sync with dbview, skip the
             # state restoring
             state = None
-        if not skip_start:
-            dbv.start(query_unit)
+        dbv.start(query_unit)
         if query_unit.create_db_template:
             await tenant.on_before_create_db_from_template(
                 query_unit.create_db_template,
diff --git a/edb/server/protocol/notebook_ext.pyx b/edb/server/protocol/notebook_ext.pyx
index 7a7341a83ca..8d614ca5d07 100644
--- a/edb/server/protocol/notebook_ext.pyx
+++ b/edb/server/protocol/notebook_ext.pyx
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ async def execute(db, tenant, queries: list):
     pgcon = await tenant.acquire_pgcon(db.name)
     try:
         await pgcon.sql_execute(b'START TRANSACTION;')
+        dbv.start_tx()
 
         for is_error, unit_or_error in units:
             if is_error:
@@ -202,13 +203,10 @@ async def execute(db, tenant, queries: list):
 
                     fe_conn = NotebookConnection()
 
-                    dbv.start_implicit(query_unit)
-
                     compiled = dbview.CompiledQuery(
                         query_unit_group=query_unit_group)
                     await p_execute.execute(
                         pgcon, dbv, compiled, b'', fe_conn=fe_conn,
-                        skip_start=True,
                     )
 
                 except Exception as ex: