diff --git a/app/Main.hs b/app/Main.hs
--- a/app/Main.hs
+++ b/app/Main.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE NoImplicitPrelude #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE TemplateHaskell #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE LambdaCase #-}
 
 module Main where
 
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
 import           Control.Concurrent (threadDelay, forkIO)
 import qualified Graphics.Vty as V
 import qualified Graphics.Vty.Input.Events as K
+import qualified System.Directory as Dir
 import qualified Hoogle as H
 
 
@@ -69,6 +71,21 @@
 
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
+  dbPath <- H.defaultDatabaseLocation
+  Dir.doesFileExist dbPath >>= \case
+    True -> runBHoogle
+    False -> do
+      putText ""
+      putText "bhoogle error: "
+      putText "   default hoogle database not found"
+      putText $ "     at " <> Txt.pack dbPath
+      putText "   You can create the database by installing hoogle and running"
+      putText "     hoogle generate"
+      putText ""
+
+ 
+runBHoogle :: IO ()
+runBHoogle = do
   chan <- BCh.newBChan 5 -- ^ create a bounded channel for events
 
   -- Send a tick event every 1 seconds with the current time
diff --git a/bhoogle.cabal b/bhoogle.cabal
--- a/bhoogle.cabal
+++ b/bhoogle.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                bhoogle
-version:             0.1.1.1
+version:             0.1.2.1
 synopsis:            Simple terminal GUI for local hoogle.
 description:         bhoogle is a terminal GUI layer over local hoogle. It provides search ahead and sub-string filtering in addition to the usual type-search.
 homepage:            https://github.com/githubuser/bhoogle#readme
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
                      , bytestring
                      , time
                      , hoogle
+                     , directory
   default-language:    Haskell2010
 
 source-repository head