diff --git a/stdlib/Pkg/src/REPLMode.jl b/stdlib/Pkg/src/REPLMode.jl
index bda3f39c27f3a..bd5fef119a109 100644
--- a/stdlib/Pkg/src/REPLMode.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Pkg/src/REPLMode.jl
@@ -738,6 +738,7 @@ function do_init!(ctx::Context, tokens::Vector{Token})
 end
 
 function do_generate!(ctx::Context, tokens::Vector{Token})
+    isempty(tokens) && cmderror("`generate` requires a project name as an argument")
     local pkg
     while !isempty(tokens)
         token = popfirst!(tokens)
diff --git a/stdlib/Pkg/test/repl.jl b/stdlib/Pkg/test/repl.jl
index 4452ff8f133d3..18a6ba67ce041 100644
--- a/stdlib/Pkg/test/repl.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Pkg/test/repl.jl
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ function git_init_package(tmp, path)
 end
 
 
+@testset "generate init args" begin
+    @test_throws CommandError pkg"generate"
+    @test_throws CommandError pkg"init Beep"
+end
+
 mktempdir() do project_path
     cd(project_path) do
         pushfirst!(LOAD_PATH, Base.parse_load_path("@"))