diff --git a/lib/Common.js b/lib/Common.js
index 438628655..f5f3e9fbd 100644
--- a/lib/Common.js
+++ b/lib/Common.js
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@ Common.prepareAppConf = function(opts, app) {
   cwd && (cwd[0] != '/') && (cwd = path.resolve(process.cwd(), cwd));
   cwd = cwd || opts.cwd;
 
+  if (!fs.existsSync(cwd)) {
+    return new Error(`No such directory, cwd '${cwd}'`);
+  }
+
   // Full path script resolution
   app.pm_exec_path = path.resolve(cwd, app.script);
 
diff --git a/test/programmatic/programmatic.js b/test/programmatic/programmatic.js
index 9c31109ec..2cd7fcba5 100644
--- a/test/programmatic/programmatic.js
+++ b/test/programmatic/programmatic.js
@@ -95,6 +95,16 @@ describe('PM2 programmatic calls', function() {
       });
     });
 
+    it('should throw if cwd doesn\'t exist', function(done) {
+      pm2.start({
+        command: 'echo $PWD',
+        cwd: "./IMAGINARY_DIR",
+      }, function(err, data) {
+        should.exists(err);
+        done();
+      })
+    });
+
     it('should notice error if wrong file passed', function(done) {
       pm2.start('./UNKNOWN_SCRIPT.js', {
         force : true,