diff --git a/e2e/cli-e2e/tests/collect.e2e.test.ts b/e2e/cli-e2e/tests/collect.e2e.test.ts
index 5f0af94a0..c2b69c2d4 100644
--- a/e2e/cli-e2e/tests/collect.e2e.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/cli-e2e/tests/collect.e2e.test.ts
@@ -65,12 +65,7 @@ describe('CLI collect', () => {
   it('should print report summary to stdout', async () => {
     const { code, stdout, stderr } = await executeProcess({
       command: 'code-pushup',
-      args: [
-        'collect',
-        '--verbose',
-        '--persist.format=stdout',
-        '--no-progress',
-      ],
+      args: ['collect', '--no-progress'],
       cwd: 'examples/react-todos-app',
     });
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.integration.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.integration.test.ts
index 174213115..46e7a3ded 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.integration.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.integration.test.ts
@@ -56,6 +56,15 @@ describe('yargsCli', () => {
     expect(parsedArgv.persist?.format).toEqual(['md', 'json']);
   });
 
+  it('should throw for an invalid persist format', () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      yargsCli<CoreConfig>(['--persist.format=md', '--persist.format=stdout'], {
+        options,
+        noExitProcess: true,
+      }).parse(),
+    ).toThrow('Invalid persist.format option');
+  });
+
   it('should parse global options correctly', async () => {
     const parsedArgv = await yargsCli<GeneralCliOptions>(
       ['--verbose', '--no-progress'],
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.ts b/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.ts
index f38b10ac0..abab13063 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/lib/yargs-cli.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import yargs, {
   Options,
   ParserConfigurationOptions,
 } from 'yargs';
+import { PersistConfig, formatSchema } from '@code-pushup/models';
 import { logErrorBeforeThrow } from './implementation/utils';
 
 /**
@@ -42,10 +43,13 @@ export function yargsCli<T = unknown>(
     .help()
     .version(false)
     .alias('h', 'help')
+    .check(args => {
+      const persist = args['persist'] as PersistConfig | undefined;
+      return persist == null || validatePersistFormat(persist);
+    })
     .parserConfiguration({
       'strip-dashed': true,
     } satisfies Partial<ParserConfigurationOptions>)
-    .array('persist.format')
     .coerce('config', (config: string | string[]) =>
       Array.isArray(config) ? config.at(-1) : config,
     )
@@ -90,3 +94,18 @@ export function yargsCli<T = unknown>(
   // return CLI object
   return cli as unknown as Argv<T>;
 }
+
+function validatePersistFormat(persist: PersistConfig) {
+  try {
+    if (persist?.format != null) {
+      persist.format.forEach(format => formatSchema.parse(format));
+    }
+    return true;
+  } catch {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Invalid persist.format option. Valid options are: ${Object.values(
+        formatSchema.Values,
+      ).join(', ')}`,
+    );
+  }
+}