diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index 3e64327..550e622 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -57,11 +57,13 @@ export async function main(argv: string[]): Promise<void> {
   try {
     await program.parseAsync(argv)
   } catch (err) {
-    if (
-      err instanceof CommanderError &&
-      (err.code === 'commander.helpDisplayed' || err.code === 'commander.version')
-    ) {
-      return
+    if (err instanceof CommanderError) {
+      if (err.code === 'commander.helpDisplayed' || err.code === 'commander.version') {
+        return
+      }
+
+      console.error(err.message)
+      process.exit(err.exitCode || 1)
     }
 
     if (err instanceof ShpeckError || err instanceof GitError) {
diff --git a/test/cli-smoke.test.ts b/test/cli-smoke.test.ts
index 269b9d0..b3e9ff7 100644
--- a/test/cli-smoke.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli-smoke.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,18 @@ describe('cli smoke', () => {
     expect(stdout).toContain('Usage: shpeck')
   })
 
+  it('does not print stack trace when no args', async () => {
+    const { exitCode, stdout, stderr } = await runCommand(['bun', cliPath], {
+      cwd: repoRoot,
+      allowNonZeroExit: true,
+    })
+
+    expect(exitCode).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(stderr).toContain('Usage: shpeck')
+    expect(stderr).not.toContain('Error:')
+    expect(stderr).not.toContain('at ')
+  })
+
   it('fails on unknown command', async () => {
     const { exitCode, stderr } = await runCommand(['bun', cliPath, 'nope'], {
       cwd: repoRoot,