diff --git a/scripts/compare-commits.sh b/scripts/compare-commits.sh
index 763d5ef56..6c1d96fe5 100755
--- a/scripts/compare-commits.sh
+++ b/scripts/compare-commits.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-set -e
-set -x
-
 if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
     echo "usage: ./scripts/compare-commits.sh <commit1> <commit2> [additional llama-bench arguments]"
     exit 1
 fi
 
+set -e
+set -x
+
 bench_args="${@:3}"
 
 rm -f llama-bench.sqlite