diff --git a/nb-engine/nb-engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java b/nb-engine/nb-engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java
index eca8b8c58..767a19959 100644
--- a/nb-engine/nb-engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java
+++ b/nb-engine/nb-engine-cli/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/cli/NBCLI.java
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ package io.nosqlbench.engine.cli;
 
 import com.google.gson.Gson;
 import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
+import io.nosqlbench.adapter.diag.DriverAdapterLoader;
 import io.nosqlbench.adapters.api.activityconfig.rawyaml.RawOpsLoader;
+import io.nosqlbench.engine.cmdstream.Cmd;
 import io.nosqlbench.engine.cmdstream.CmdType;
 import io.nosqlbench.nb.api.annotations.Annotation;
 import io.nosqlbench.nb.api.annotations.Layer;
@@ -218,6 +220,19 @@ public class NBCLI implements Function<String[], Integer>, NBLabeledElement {
         }
 
         final NBCLIOptions options = new NBCLIOptions(args, Mode.ParseAllOptions);
+
+        for (Cmd cmd : options.getCommands()) {
+            Map<String, String> cmdArgMap = cmd.getArgMap();
+            if (cmdArgMap.containsKey("driver")) {
+                String driverName = cmdArgMap.get("driver");
+                Optional<? extends DriverAdapterLoader> driverAdapter =
+                    ServiceSelector.of(driverName, ServiceLoader.load(DriverAdapterLoader.class)).get();
+                if (driverAdapter.isEmpty()) {
+                    throw new BasicError("Unable to load default driver adapter '" + driverName + '\'');
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         NBCLI.logger = LogManager.getLogger("NBCLI");
 
         NBIO.addGlobalIncludes(options.wantsIncludes());
diff --git a/nb-engine/nb-engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/session/CmdParser.java b/nb-engine/nb-engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/session/CmdParser.java
index db04aa207..2eeb1ed94 100644
--- a/nb-engine/nb-engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/session/CmdParser.java
+++ b/nb-engine/nb-engine-core/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/engine/core/lifecycle/session/CmdParser.java
@@ -73,13 +73,6 @@ public class CmdParser {
                 cmdstructs.removeFirst();
                 Map<String,CmdArg> params = new LinkedHashMap<>();
                 while (cmdstructs.peekFirst() instanceof parameter param) {
-                    if (Objects.equals(param.name(), "driver")) {
-                        Optional<? extends DriverAdapterLoader> driverAdapter =
-                            ServiceSelector.of(param.value(), ServiceLoader.load(DriverAdapterLoader.class)).get();
-                        if (driverAdapter.isEmpty()) {
-                            throw new BasicError("Unable to load default driver adapter '" + param.value() + '\'');
-                        }
-                    }
                     cmdstructs.removeFirst();
                     if (params.containsKey(param.name())) {
                         throw new BasicError("Duplicate occurrence of option: " + param.name());