diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 9622d0e..6a37654 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 func main() {
+	if len(os.Args[1:]) == 0 {
+		fmt.Println("please provide path to a tar archive")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	fh, err := os.Open(os.Args[1])
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal(err)