diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/update.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/update.py
index 661e9613d..6ab343aac 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/update.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/clan_cli/update.py
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ def update(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
 
 
 def register_parser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
-    parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=True)
     # TODO pass all args we don't parse into ssh_args, currently it fails if arg starts with -
     parser.add_argument("--flake-uri", type=str, default=".#", help="nix flake uri")
     parser.add_argument(
diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_update.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_update_cli.py
similarity index 79%
rename from pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_update.py
rename to pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_update_cli.py
index 8d9dca9f2..707283a62 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_update.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_update_cli.py
@@ -1,12 +1,21 @@
+import argparse
 import os
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
 from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 
+import pytest
 from environment import mock_env
 from host_group import HostGroup
 
-from clan_cli.update import deploy_nixos
+from clan_cli.update import deploy_nixos, register_parser
+
+
+def test_cli() -> None:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    register_parser(parser)
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+        parser.parse_args(["--help"])
 
 
 def test_update(clan_flake: Path, host_group: HostGroup) -> None: