diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b5f7c3565..e5c91ae82 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ tink-server
 **/tink-worker
 bin/
 certs/
-
+/tink
diff --git a/cli/tink/.gitignore b/cli/tink/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aaa6c93ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/tink/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/tink
diff --git a/cli/tink/cmd/root.go b/cli/tink/cmd/root.go
index e61c35879..87370d15a 100644
--- a/cli/tink/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cli/tink/cmd/root.go
@@ -17,19 +17,23 @@ var rootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Short: "tinkerbell CLI",
 }
 
+func init() {
+	cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig)
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&cfgFile, "facility", "f", "", "used to build grcp and http urls")
+}
+
 // Execute adds all child commands to the root command and sets flags appropriately.
 // This is called by main.main(). It only needs to happen once to the rootCmd.
-func Execute() {
-	if err := rootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
-		fmt.Println(err)
-		os.Exit(1)
+func Execute() error {
+	if !isHelpCommand() {
+		client.Setup()
 	}
+
+	return rootCmd.Execute()
 }
 
-func init() {
-	cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig)
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&cfgFile, "facility", "f", "", "used to build grcp and http urls")
-	client.Setup()
+func isHelpCommand() bool {
+	return len(os.Args) == 1 || (len(os.Args) == 2 && os.Args[1] == "--help")
 }
 
 // initConfig reads in config file and ENV variables if set.
diff --git a/cli/tink/main.go b/cli/tink/main.go
index 995da0939..21b62633f 100644
--- a/cli/tink/main.go
+++ b/cli/tink/main.go
@@ -1,7 +1,15 @@
 package main
 
-import "github.com/tinkerbell/tink/cli/tink/cmd"
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/tinkerbell/tink/cli/tink/cmd"
+)
 
 func main() {
-	cmd.Execute()
+	if err := cmd.Execute(); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, fmt.Sprintf("%s", err.Error()))
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 }