diff --git a/packages/xo-cli/README.md b/packages/xo-cli/README.md
index 245ee56ad..4cb12b380 100644
--- a/packages/xo-cli/README.md
+++ b/packages/xo-cli/README.md
@@ -105,6 +105,12 @@ encoding by prefixing with `json:`:
 > xo-cli foo.bar baz='json:[1, 2, 3]'
 ```
 
+##### Configuration export
+
+```
+> xo-cli xo.exportConfig @=config.json
+```
+
 ##### VM export
 
 ```
diff --git a/packages/xo-cli/src/index.js b/packages/xo-cli/src/index.js
index 475807e31..ed375390c 100755
--- a/packages/xo-cli/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/xo-cli/src/index.js
@@ -328,6 +328,15 @@ async function listObjects (args) {
 }
 exports.listObjects = listObjects
 
+function ensurePathParam (method, value) {
+  if (typeof value !== 'string') {
+    const error =
+      method +
+      ' requires the @ parameter to be a path (e.g. @=/tmp/config.json)'
+    throw error
+  }
+}
+
 async function call (args) {
   if (!args.length) {
     throw new Error('missing command name')
@@ -350,6 +359,7 @@ async function call (args) {
     key = keys[0]
 
     if (key === '$getFrom') {
+      ensurePathParam(method, file)
       url = resolveUrl(baseUrl, result[key])
       const output = createWriteStream(file)
 
@@ -371,6 +381,7 @@ async function call (args) {
     }
 
     if (key === '$sendTo') {
+      ensurePathParam(method, file)
       url = resolveUrl(baseUrl, result[key])
 
       const stats = await stat(file)