diff --git a/tools/boilerplate/boilerplate.py b/tools/boilerplate/boilerplate.py
index 3d556cccbeff4127dd123ab755f1f30eb1a2c521..15701374e1e0632dd5655fc8636b175b3a85d52e 100755
--- a/tools/boilerplate/boilerplate.py
+++ b/tools/boilerplate/boilerplate.py
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ def main():
     parser.add_argument(
         '-e', '--email',
         default=gitconfig('user.email'), type=u8)
-    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers()
+    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest='recipe')
+    subparsers.required = True
 
     recipes_module = import_module('recipes', package='boilerplate_data')
 
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ def main():
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
-    recipe = args.recipe(args)
+    recipe = args.recipe_class(args)
     recipe.generate()
 
 
diff --git a/tools/boilerplate/recipe.py b/tools/boilerplate/recipe.py
index 9c1785b08ce9c09418bba93379d6459533062c2b..9f3324923bf145a2694deccb891823528d781ee0 100644
--- a/tools/boilerplate/recipe.py
+++ b/tools/boilerplate/recipe.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class Recipe(object):
     def configure_subparser(cls, subparsers):
         subparser = subparsers.add_parser(cls.NAME)
         subparser.add_argument('name', help='Module name')
-        subparser.set_defaults(recipe=cls)
+        subparser.set_defaults(recipe_class=cls)
         return subparser
 
     def __init__(self, args):