diff --git a/cli/tauri.js/helpers/tauri-config.js b/cli/tauri.js/helpers/tauri-config.js
index 05fc94664..c8d7812fa 100644
--- a/cli/tauri.js/helpers/tauri-config.js
+++ b/cli/tauri.js/helpers/tauri-config.js
@@ -1,8 +1,22 @@
 const appPaths = require('./app-paths')
 const merge = require('webpack-merge')
+const error = require('../helpers/logger')('ERROR:', 'red')
+const { existsSync } = require('fs-extra')
 
 module.exports = cfg => {
-  const tauriConf = require(appPaths.resolve.app('tauri.conf.js'))(cfg.ctx)
+  const pkgPath = appPaths.resolve.app('package.json')
+  const tauriConfPath = appPaths.resolve.app('tauri.conf.js')
+  if (!existsSync(pkgPath)) {
+    error('Could not find a package.json in your app\'s directory.')
+    process.exit(1)
+  }
+  if (!existsSync(tauriConfPath)) {
+    error('Could not find a tauri config (tauri.conf.js) in your app\'s directory.')
+    process.exit(1)
+  }
+  const tauriConf = require(tauriConfPath)(cfg.ctx)
+  const pkg = require(pkgPath)
+
   const config = merge({
     build: {
       distDir: './dist'
@@ -19,7 +33,7 @@ module.exports = cfg => {
         all: false
       },
       window: {
-        title: require(appPaths.resolve.app('package.json')).productName
+        title: pkg.productName
       },
       security: {
         csp: 'default-src data: filesystem: ws: http: https: \'unsafe-eval\' \'unsafe-inline\''