diff --git a/src/cli/exec/mod.rs b/src/cli/exec/mod.rs
index 89952255..01bdd6da 100644
--- a/src/cli/exec/mod.rs
+++ b/src/cli/exec/mod.rs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ pub struct ExecArgs {
     pub name: Option<String>,
 
     /// The command to execute with the exec harness
+    #[arg(required = true)]
     pub command: Vec<String>,
 }
 
@@ -125,6 +126,8 @@ pub async fn execute_config(
     api_client: &mut CodSpeedAPIClient,
     setup_cache_dir: Option<&Path>,
 ) -> Result<()> {
+    ensure_exec_commands_runnable(&config.targets)?;
+
     let orchestrator = executor::Orchestrator::new(config, api_client).await?;
 
     if !orchestrator.is_local() {
@@ -137,3 +140,77 @@ pub async fn execute_config(
 
     Ok(())
 }
+
+/// Rejects exec targets whose executable (first token) is missing or blank before
+/// the orchestrator does any setup. A blank executable otherwise surfaces only as an
+/// opaque failure deep inside exec-harness. Empty *arguments* after a real executable
+/// stay valid.
+fn ensure_exec_commands_runnable(targets: &[executor::BenchmarkTarget]) -> Result<()> {
+    for target in targets {
+        let executor::BenchmarkTarget::Exec { command, name, .. } = target else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        if command.first().is_none_or(|exe| exe.trim().is_empty()) {
+            let label = name.as_deref().unwrap_or("<unnamed>");
+            bail!(
+                "Empty command for exec benchmark target `{label}`. Provide a program to run \
+                 (e.g. `codspeed exec -- <program> [args...]`, or set a non-empty `exec` in the config)."
+            );
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use crate::cli::Cli;
+    use crate::executor;
+    use clap::Parser;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn exec_requires_a_command() {
+        // `codspeed exec` with no command must be rejected at parse time instead of
+        // proceeding into executor setup with an empty command.
+        assert!(Cli::try_parse_from(["codspeed", "exec"]).is_err());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn exec_accepts_a_command() {
+        assert!(Cli::try_parse_from(["codspeed", "exec", "echo", "hello"]).is_ok());
+    }
+
+    fn exec_target(command: &[&str], name: Option<&str>) -> executor::BenchmarkTarget {
+        executor::BenchmarkTarget::Exec {
+            command: command.iter().map(|s| s.to_string()).collect(),
+            name: name.map(str::to_string),
+            walltime_args: Default::default(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rejects_missing_or_empty_executable() {
+        // Empty vec (`exec: ""`), an empty first token (`codspeed exec ''` / `exec: "''"`),
+        // and a whitespace-only token (`codspeed exec "   "`) are all invalid.
+        assert!(super::ensure_exec_commands_runnable(&[exec_target(&[], Some("a"))]).is_err());
+        assert!(super::ensure_exec_commands_runnable(&[exec_target(&["   "], Some("a"))]).is_err());
+        let err = super::ensure_exec_commands_runnable(&[exec_target(&[""], Some("bench"))])
+            .unwrap_err()
+            .to_string();
+        assert!(err.contains("bench"), "{err}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn accepts_runnable_command_with_empty_argument() {
+        // An empty *argument* after a real executable stays valid (e.g. `grep '' file`).
+        assert!(super::ensure_exec_commands_runnable(&[exec_target(&["grep", ""], None)]).is_ok());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn ignores_entrypoint_targets() {
+        let target = executor::BenchmarkTarget::Entrypoint {
+            command: String::new(),
+            name: None,
+        };
+        assert!(super::ensure_exec_commands_runnable(&[target]).is_ok());
+    }
+}