diff --git a/newa/__init__.py b/newa/__init__.py
index a44acec..9dee28f 100644
--- a/newa/__init__.py
+++ b/newa/__init__.py
@@ -1735,6 +1735,7 @@ class CLIContext:
     no_wait: bool = False
     restart_request: list[str] = field(factory=list)
     restart_result: list[str] = field(factory=list)
+    new_state_dir: bool = False
 
     def enter_command(self, command: str) -> None:
         self.logger.handlers[0].formatter = logging.Formatter(
diff --git a/newa/cli.py b/newa/cli.py
index c0d5a2e..ecefe60 100644
--- a/newa/cli.py
+++ b/newa/cli.py
@@ -200,11 +200,13 @@ def main(click_context: click.Context,
 
     ctx.logger.info(f'Using --state-dir={ctx.state_dirpath}')
     if not ctx.state_dirpath.exists():
+        ctx.new_state_dir = True
         ctx.logger.debug(f'State directory {ctx.state_dirpath} does not exist, creating...')
         ctx.state_dirpath.mkdir(parents=True)
 
     # extract YAML files from the given archive to state-dir
     if extract_state_dir:
+        ctx.new_state_dir = False
         if re.match('^https?://', extract_state_dir):
             data = urllib.request.urlopen(extract_state_dir).read()
             tf = tarfile.open(fileobj=io.BytesIO(data), mode='r:*')
@@ -985,6 +987,11 @@ def cmd_execute(
         ctx.restart_result = restart_result
         ctx.continue_execution = True
 
+    if ctx.continue_execution and ctx.new_state_dir:
+        ctx.logger.error(
+            'NEWA state-dir was not specified! Use --state-dir or similar option.')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
     # initialize RP connection
     rp_project = ctx.settings.rp_project
     rp_url = ctx.settings.rp_url