Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. Generally, the described techniques provide for efficiently identifying spatial parameters for receiving control information in an initial coreset. In one example, a user equipment (UE) may receive a TCI state indicating reference signals quasi co-located with a control information transmission in a coreset, and the UE may also identify a quasi co-location (QCL) assumption in a random-access procedure indicating that a synchronization signal block (SSB) is quasi co-located with the control information transmission in the coreset. In this example, the UE may identify spatial parameters for monitoring the coreset for the control information transmission in accordance with the TCI state or the QCL assumption based on the timing of the indicated TCI state and the QCL assumption.