diff --git a/cli/util/args.go b/cli/util/args.go
index b636de37..1fcc1951 100644
--- a/cli/util/args.go
+++ b/cli/util/args.go
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ func LookupSubcommand(obj interface{}, st interface{}) string {
 }
 
 // EmptyArgs is the empty CLI parsing structure and type of the parsed result.
-type EmptyArgs struct{}
+type EmptyArgs struct {
+	Wait bool `arg:"--wait" help:"don't use any existing (stale) deploys"`
+}
 
 // LangArgs is the lang CLI parsing structure and type of the parsed result.
 type LangArgs struct {
diff --git a/gapi/empty/empty.go b/gapi/empty/empty.go
index c12d99e6..e25e4256 100644
--- a/gapi/empty/empty.go
+++ b/gapi/empty/empty.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"sync"
 
+	cliUtil "github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/cli/util"
 	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/gapi"
 	"github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/pgraph"
 )
@@ -48,6 +49,17 @@ func init() {
 
 // GAPI implements the main lang GAPI interface.
 type GAPI struct {
+	// Wait should be true if we don't use any existing (stale) deploys.
+	// This means that if you start an empty GAPI, then it will immediately
+	// try to look for and run any existing deploys that have been stored in
+	// the cluster that it has connected to. If this is true, then it will
+	// only start on the next deploy. To be honest, we should probably never
+	// wait, but this was accidentally how it was initially implemented, so
+	// we'll change the default and add this in as a flag for now. We may
+	// remove this in the future unless someone has a good reason for
+	// needing it.
+	Wait bool
+
 	data        *gapi.Data
 	initialized bool
 	closeChan   chan struct{}
@@ -57,11 +69,19 @@ type GAPI struct {
 // Cli takes an *Info struct, and returns our deploy if activated, and if there
 // are any validation problems, you should return an error. If there is no
 // deploy, then you should return a nil deploy and a nil error.
-func (obj *GAPI) Cli(*gapi.Info) (*gapi.Deploy, error) {
+func (obj *GAPI) Cli(info *gapi.Info) (*gapi.Deploy, error) {
+	args, ok := info.Args.(*cliUtil.EmptyArgs)
+	if !ok {
+		// programming error
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not convert to our struct")
+	}
+
 	return &gapi.Deploy{
 		Name: Name,
 		//Noop: false,
-		GAPI: &GAPI{},
+		GAPI: &GAPI{
+			Wait: args.Wait,
+		},
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/main.go b/lib/main.go
index 86780f84..2ec3235b 100644
--- a/lib/main.go
+++ b/lib/main.go
@@ -1024,6 +1024,12 @@ func (obj *Main) Run() error {
 		defer wg.Done()
 		defer close(deployChan) // no more are coming ever!
 
+		// if "empty" and we don't want to wait for a fresh deploy...
+		if obj.Deploy != nil && max != 0 {
+			if emptyGAPI, ok := obj.Deploy.GAPI.(*empty.GAPI); ok && !emptyGAPI.Wait {
+				obj.Deploy = nil // erase the empty deploy
+			}
+		}
 		// we've been asked to deploy, so do that first...
 		if obj.Deploy != nil {
 			deploy := obj.Deploy