diff --git a/cmd/buf.go b/cmd/buf.go
index e3cf3b3..1af4682 100644
--- a/cmd/buf.go
+++ b/cmd/buf.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package cmd
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
 
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
diff --git a/cmd/gen_route.go b/cmd/gen_route.go
index 653631e..319d959 100644
--- a/cmd/gen_route.go
+++ b/cmd/gen_route.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func commandGenRouteE(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 
 	modulePath := filepath.Join(path, "app/http")
 	if _, err := os.Stat(modulePath); os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		log.Fatal("modules dir not exist, ", modulePath)
+		return fmt.Errorf("routes directory not found: %s (set --path to your project root)", modulePath)
 	}
 
 	// controllerPattern := regexp.MustCompile(`controller(_?\w+)?\.go`)