diff --git a/bin/cloudcmd.js b/bin/cloudcmd.js
index fbb7ee44..9139f9b1 100755
--- a/bin/cloudcmd.js
+++ b/bin/cloudcmd.js
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ if (args.version) {
     readConfig(args.config);
     
     const options = {
-        root: args.root,
+        root: args.root || '/', /* --no-root */
         editor: args.editor,
         packer: args.packer,
         prefix: args.prefix
diff --git a/lib/server/validate.js b/lib/server/validate.js
index 6db4c245..bc1317bd 100644
--- a/lib/server/validate.js
+++ b/lib/server/validate.js
@@ -9,12 +9,16 @@ module.exports.packer = packer;
 function root(dir, fn) {
     var fs;
     
+    if (typeof dir !== 'string')
+        throw Error('dir should be a string');
+    
     if (dir !== '/') {
-        fs  = require('fs');
+        fs = require('fs');
         fs.stat(dir, function(error) {
             if (error)
-                exit('cloudcmd --root: %s', error.message);
-            else if (typeof fn === 'function')
+                return exit('cloudcmd --root: %s', error.message);
+            
+            if (typeof fn === 'function')
                 fn('root:', dir);
         });
     }
diff --git a/test/lib/validate.js b/test/lib/validate.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a70e1fc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lib/validate.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const test = require('tape');
+const root = '../../';
+const validate = require(root + 'lib/server/validate');
+
+const before = require('../before');
+
+test('validate: root: bad', (t) => {
+    const config = {
+        root: Math.random()
+    };
+    const fn = () => {
+        before({config}, (port, after) => {
+            t.fail('should not create server');
+            after();
+            t.end();
+        });
+    };
+    
+    t.throws(fn, /dir should be a string/, 'should throw');
+    t.end();
+});
+