diff --git a/bin/compose b/bin/compose
index 06d4a08..4a7dbe2 100755
--- a/bin/compose
+++ b/bin/compose
@@ -1409,6 +1409,9 @@ get_charm_metadata() {
         return 0  ## No metadata file is as if metadata was empty
     fi
 
+    if ! [ -d "$CHARM_STORE/$charm" ]; then
+        die "No charm $charm was found in charm store."
+    fi
     cat "$metadata_file"
 }
 export -f get_charm_metadata