diff --git a/cli/app/deploy.go b/cli/app/deploy.go
index fa0c14be..8cb630c8 100644
--- a/cli/app/deploy.go
+++ b/cli/app/deploy.go
@@ -106,13 +106,15 @@ checkout as-is. Recipe commit hashes are also supported as values for
 			log.Fatal(i18n.G("get deploy version: %s", err))
 		}
 
+		versionIsChaos := false
 		if !internal.Chaos {
-			isChaos, err := app.Recipe.EnsureVersion(toDeployVersion)
+			var err error
+			versionIsChaos, err = app.Recipe.EnsureVersion(toDeployVersion)
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Fatal(i18n.G("ensure recipe: %s", err))
 			}
-			if isChaos {
-				log.Fatal(i18n.G("version '%s' appears to be a chaos commit, but --chaos/-C was not provided", toDeployVersion))
+			if versionIsChaos {
+				log.Warnf(i18n.G("version '%s' appears to be a chaos commit, but --chaos/-C was not provided", toDeployVersion))
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -152,7 +154,7 @@ checkout as-is. Recipe commit hashes are also supported as values for
 
 		appPkg.ExposeAllEnv(stackName, compose, app.Env)
 		appPkg.SetRecipeLabel(compose, stackName, app.Recipe.Name)
-		appPkg.SetChaosLabel(compose, stackName, internal.Chaos)
+		appPkg.SetChaosLabel(compose, stackName, internal.Chaos || versionIsChaos)
 		if internal.Chaos {
 			appPkg.SetChaosVersionLabel(compose, stackName, toDeployVersion)
 		}