diff --git a/cli/catalogue/generate.go b/cli/catalogue/generate.go
index 5e89a63e..d4490af4 100644
--- a/cli/catalogue/generate.go
+++ b/cli/catalogue/generate.go
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@ A new catalogue copy can be published to the recipes repository by passing the
 	ArgsUsage: "[<recipe>]",
 	Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {
 		recipeName := c.Args().First()
+		if recipeName != "" {
+			internal.ValidateRecipe(c)
+		}
 
 		catalogueDir := path.Join(config.ABRA_DIR, "catalogue")
 		url := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s.git", config.REPOS_BASE_URL, "recipes")