diff --git a/otpish b/otpish
index 8d3fa23..3a14f21 100755
--- a/otpish
+++ b/otpish
@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@ if [ "${COMMAND}" = "get" ]; then
 		if [ "$(echo ${i} | cut -d'=' -f1)" = "digits" ]; then digits=$(echo ${i} | cut -d'=' -f2); fi
 		if [ "$(echo ${i} | cut -d'=' -f1)" = "period" ]; then period=$(echo ${i} | cut -d'=' -f2); fi
 	done
+	if [ -z ${secret} ]; then
+		echo secret value unset, check otpish dump to make sure you added the uri correctly
+		exit
+	fi
 	oathtool --totp -b -s "${period:-30}s" -d ${digits:-6} ${secret}
 	exit
 fi