diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7b655fe8..40cf7a05 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ if(NOT ${TREE_SITTER_ABI_VERSION} MATCHES "^[0-9]+$")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "TREE_SITTER_ABI_VERSION must be an integer")
 endif()
 
-find_program(TREE_SITTER_CLI tree-sitter DOC "Tree-sitter CLI")
+find_program(TREE_SITTER_CLI tree-sitter DOC "Tree-sitter CLI" REQUIRED)
 
 add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/parser.c"
                    DEPENDS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/grammar.json"