diff --git a/nbgitpuller/pull.py b/nbgitpuller/pull.py
index cc18ac97..63b9798f 100644
--- a/nbgitpuller/pull.py
+++ b/nbgitpuller/pull.py
@@ -304,13 +304,14 @@ def main():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='Synchronizes a github repository with a local repository.')
     parser.add_argument('git_url', help='Url of the repo to sync')
     parser.add_argument('branch_name', default=None, help='Branch of repo to sync', nargs='?')
-    parser.add_argument('repo_dir', default='.', help='Path to clone repo under', nargs='?')
+    parser.add_argument('--target-dir', default='.', help='Path to clone repo under')
+
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     for line in GitPuller(
         args.git_url,
-        args.repo_dir,
-        branch=args.branch_name if args.branch_name else None
+        args.target_dir,
+        branch=args.branch_name
     ).pull():
         print(line)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_gitpuller.py b/tests/test_gitpuller.py
index 0055b0da..ef1393c1 100644
--- a/tests/test_gitpuller.py
+++ b/tests/test_gitpuller.py
@@ -99,7 +99,11 @@ def test_initialize():
 def command_line_test_helper(remote_path, branch, pusher_path):
     work_dir = "/".join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)).split("/")[:-1]) + "/nbgitpuller"
     try:
-        cmd = ['python3', 'pull.py', remote_path, branch, pusher_path]
+        cmd = ['python3', 'pull.py', remote_path]
+        if branch is not None:
+            cmd += [branch]
+        if pusher_path is not None:
+            cmd += ['--target-dir', pusher_path]
         sp.check_output(
             cmd,
             cwd=work_dir
@@ -119,8 +123,9 @@ def test_command_line_existing_branch():
     assert subprocess_result
 
 
-def test_command_line_default_branch():
-    branch = ""
+def test_command_line_no_branch_passed():
+    # so it should use the default branch
+    branch = None
     with Remote() as remote, Pusher(remote) as pusher:
         pusher.push_file('README.md', '1')
         remotepath = "file://%s" % os.path.abspath(remote.path)