diff --git a/packages/cactus-cmd-api-server/src/main/typescript/cmd/cactus-api.ts b/packages/cactus-cmd-api-server/src/main/typescript/cmd/cactus-api.ts
index b3c8da6762..27069d338f 100644
--- a/packages/cactus-cmd-api-server/src/main/typescript/cmd/cactus-api.ts
+++ b/packages/cactus-cmd-api-server/src/main/typescript/cmd/cactus-api.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const main = async () => {
 
   LoggerProvider.setLogLevel(serverOptions.logLevel);
 
-  if (process.argv[2].includes("help")) {
+  if (process.argv[2]?.includes("help")) {
     const helpText = ConfigService.getHelpText();
     console.log(helpText);
     log.info(`Effective Configuration:`);