diff --git a/cmd/dehub/main.go b/cmd/dehub/main.go
index bbd166e..5b645c2 100644
--- a/cmd/dehub/main.go
+++ b/cmd/dehub/main.go
@@ -102,10 +102,19 @@ var subCmds = []subCmd{
 		name:  "commit",
 		descr: "commits staged changes to the head of the current branch",
 		body: func(sctx subCmdCtx) error {
-			msg := sctx.flag.String("msg", "", "Commit message to use")
+			msg := sctx.flag.String("msg", "", "Commit message")
 			accountID := sctx.flag.String("account-id", "", "Account to sign commit as")
 			sctx.flagParse()
 
+			// Don't bother checking any of the parameters, especially commit
+			// message, if there's no staged changes,
+			hasStaged, err := sctx.repo().HasStagedChanges()
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("error determining if any changes have been staged: %w", err)
+			} else if !hasStaged {
+				return errors.New("no changes have been staged for commit")
+			}
+
 			if *accountID == "" {
 				flag.PrintDefaults()
 				return errors.New("-account-id is required")
diff --git a/commit.go b/commit.go
index 2a8cadc..e8f2548 100644
--- a/commit.go
+++ b/commit.go
@@ -93,6 +93,29 @@ func (r *Repo) Commit(m encoding.TextMarshaler, accountID string) (plumbing.Hash
 	})
 }
 
+// HasStagedChanges returns true if there are file changes which have been
+// staged (e.g. via "git add").
+func (r *Repo) HasStagedChanges() (bool, error) {
+	w, err := r.GitRepo.Worktree()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("error retrieving worktree: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	status, err := w.Status()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("error retrieving worktree status: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	var any bool
+	for _, fileStatus := range status {
+		if fileStatus.Staging != git.Unmodified {
+			any = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return any, nil
+}
+
 // NewChangeCommit constructs a ChangeCommit using the given SignifierInterface
 // to create a Credential for it.
 func (r *Repo) NewChangeCommit(msg, accountID string, sig sigcred.SignifierInterface) (ChangeCommit, error) {
diff --git a/repo_test.go b/repo_test.go
index c7f13aa..8e4a424 100644
--- a/repo_test.go
+++ b/repo_test.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"math/rand"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime/debug"
 	"testing"
 
 	"gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4/plumbing"
@@ -113,3 +114,30 @@ func (h *harness) changeCommit(msg, accountID string, sig sigcred.SignifierInter
 
 	return tc, hash
 }
+
+func TestHasStagedChanges(t *testing.T) {
+	harness := newHarness(t)
+	assertHasStaged := func(expHasStaged bool) {
+		hasStaged, err := harness.repo.HasStagedChanges()
+		if err != nil {
+			debug.PrintStack()
+			t.Fatalf("error calling HasStagedChanges: %v", err)
+		} else if hasStaged != expHasStaged {
+			debug.PrintStack()
+			t.Fatalf("expected HasStagedChanges to return %v", expHasStaged)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// the harness starts with some staged changes
+	assertHasStaged(true)
+
+	harness.stage(map[string]string{"foo": "bar"})
+	assertHasStaged(true)
+	harness.changeCommit("first commit", "root", harness.sig)
+	assertHasStaged(false)
+
+	harness.stage(map[string]string{"foo": ""}) // delete foo
+	assertHasStaged(true)
+	harness.changeCommit("second commit", "root", harness.sig)
+	assertHasStaged(false)
+}