diff --git a/cmd/replicate-add.go b/cmd/replicate-add.go
index 84a3ed50..453e9762 100644
--- a/cmd/replicate-add.go
+++ b/cmd/replicate-add.go
@@ -105,6 +105,12 @@ func checkReplicateAddSyntax(ctx *cli.Context) {
 	if len(ctx.Args()) != 1 {
 		cli.ShowCommandHelpAndExit(ctx, "add", 1) // last argument is exit code
 	}
+	if ctx.String("arn") == "" {
+		fatal(errDummy().Trace(), "--arn flag needs to be specified.")
+	}
+	if ctx.String("remote-bucket") == "" {
+		fatal(errDummy().Trace(), "--remote-bucket flag needs to be specified.")
+	}
 }
 
 type replicateAddMessage struct {
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index e7dd43ca..8f1e742a 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@ github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.1/go.mod h1:19wcPz3Ph3q0Jbyiqsd0kePYG7A95tJPxeL+1OS
 github.com/nats-io/stan.go v0.7.0/go.mod h1:Ci6mUIpGQTjl++MqK2XzkWI/0vF+Bl72uScx7ejSYmU=
 github.com/ncw/directio v1.0.5 h1:JSUBhdjEvVaJvOoyPAbcW0fnd0tvRXD76wEfZ1KcQz4=
 github.com/ncw/directio v1.0.5/go.mod h1:rX/pKEYkOXBGOggmcyJeJGloCkleSvphPx2eV3t6ROk=
+github.com/niemeyer/pretty v0.0.0-20200227124842-a10e7caefd8e h1:fD57ERR4JtEqsWbfPhv4DMiApHyliiK5xCTNVSPiaAs=
 github.com/niemeyer/pretty v0.0.0-20200227124842-a10e7caefd8e/go.mod h1:zD1mROLANZcx1PVRCS0qkT7pwLkGfwJo4zjcN/Tysno=
 github.com/nsqio/go-nsq v1.0.7/go.mod h1:XP5zaUs3pqf+Q71EqUJs3HYfBIqfK6G83WQMdNN+Ito=
 github.com/oklog/run v1.0.0/go.mod h1:dlhp/R75TPv97u0XWUtDeV/lRKWPKSdTuV0TZvrmrQA=
@@ -537,6 +538,7 @@ gopkg.in/alecthomas/kingpin.v2 v2.2.6/go.mod h1:FMv+mEhP44yOT+4EoQTLFTRgOQ1FBLks
 gopkg.in/asn1-ber.v1 v1.0.0-20181015200546-f715ec2f112d/go.mod h1:cuepJuh7vyXfUyUwEgHQXw849cJrilpS5NeIjOWESAw=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20180628173108-788fd7840127/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
+gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20200227125254-8fa46927fb4f h1:BLraFXnmrev5lT+xlilqcH8XK9/i0At2xKjWk4p6zsU=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20200227125254-8fa46927fb4f/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
 gopkg.in/cheggaaa/pb.v1 v1.0.25/go.mod h1:V/YB90LKu/1FcN3WVnfiiE5oMCibMjukxqG/qStrOgw=
 gopkg.in/errgo.v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:hNsd1EY+bozCKY1Ytp96fpM3vjJbqLJn88ws8XvfDNI=