diff --git a/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py b/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py
index e5bfd7a9e..bbfc8b07f 100755
--- a/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py
+++ b/artiq/frontend/artiq_run.py
@@ -10,11 +10,10 @@ import logging
 import h5py
 
 from artiq.language.db import *
-from artiq.language.experiment import is_experiment, Experiment
-from artiq.protocols import pyon
+from artiq.language.experiment import Experiment
 from artiq.protocols.file_db import FlatFileDB
 from artiq.master.worker_db import DBHub, ResultDB
-from artiq.tools import file_import, verbosity_args, init_logger
+from artiq.tools import *
 
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -99,28 +98,6 @@ def get_argparser(with_file=True):
     return parser
 
 
-def _parse_arguments(arguments):
-    d = {}
-    for argument in arguments:
-        name, eq, value = argument.partition("=")
-        d[name] = pyon.decode(value)
-    return d
-
-
-def _get_experiment(module, experiment=None):
-    if experiment:
-        return getattr(module, experiment)
-
-    exps = [(k, v) for k, v in module.__dict__.items()
-            if is_experiment(v)]
-    if not exps:
-        logger.error("No experiments in module")
-    if len(exps) > 1:
-        logger.warning("Multiple experiments (%s), using first",
-                       ", ".join(k for (k, v) in exps))
-    return exps[0][1]
-
-
 def _build_experiment(dbh, args):
     if hasattr(args, "file"):
         if args.file.endswith(".elf"):
@@ -136,8 +113,8 @@ def _build_experiment(dbh, args):
     else:
         module = sys.modules["__main__"]
         file = getattr(module, "__file__")
-    exp = _get_experiment(module, args.experiment)
-    arguments = _parse_arguments(args.arguments)
+    exp = get_experiment(module, args.experiment)
+    arguments = parse_arguments(args.arguments)
     return exp(dbh,
                scheduler=DummyScheduler(),
                run_params=dict(file=file,
diff --git a/artiq/tools.py b/artiq/tools.py
index 464c38c79..197fa6c44 100644
--- a/artiq/tools.py
+++ b/artiq/tools.py
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ import asyncio
 import time
 import os.path
 
+from artiq.language.experiment import is_experiment
+from artiq.protocols import pyon
+
+
+def parse_arguments(arguments):
+    d = {}
+    for argument in arguments:
+        name, eq, value = argument.partition("=")
+        d[name] = pyon.decode(value)
+    return d
 
 def format_arguments(arguments):
     fmtargs = []
@@ -41,6 +51,19 @@ def file_import(filename):
     return module
 
 
+def get_experiment(module, experiment=None):
+    if experiment:
+        return getattr(module, experiment)
+
+    exps = [(k, v) for k, v in module.__dict__.items()
+            if is_experiment(v)]
+    if not exps:
+        raise ValueError("No experiments in module")
+    if len(exps) > 1:
+        raise ValueError("More than one experiment found in module")
+    return exps[0][1]
+
+
 def verbosity_args(parser):
     group = parser.add_argument_group("verbosity")
     group.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", default=0, action="count",