diff --git a/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py b/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py
index f33956cfa..ab3cb0ec9 100755
--- a/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py
+++ b/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class DummyScheduler:
     watchdog = DummyWatchdog
 
 
-def get_argparser(with_file):
+def get_argparser(with_file=True):
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="Local experiment running tool")