diff --git a/common/arg.cpp b/common/arg.cpp
index 0cc284e9c6..b864ca8c2b 100644
--- a/common/arg.cpp
+++ b/common/arg.cpp
@@ -212,7 +212,6 @@ struct handle_model_result {
 static handle_model_result common_params_handle_model(
         struct common_params_model & model,
         const std::string & bearer_token,
-        const std::string & model_path_default,
         bool offline) {
     handle_model_result result;
     // handle pre-fill default model path and url based on hf_repo and hf_file
@@ -257,8 +256,6 @@ static handle_model_result common_params_handle_model(
                 model.path = fs_get_cache_file(string_split<std::string>(f, '/').back());
             }
 
-        } else if (model.path.empty()) {
-            model.path = model_path_default;
         }
     }
 
@@ -405,7 +402,7 @@ static bool common_params_parse_ex(int argc, char ** argv, common_params_context
 
     // handle model and download
     {
-        auto res = common_params_handle_model(params.model, params.hf_token, DEFAULT_MODEL_PATH, params.offline);
+        auto res = common_params_handle_model(params.model, params.hf_token, params.offline);
         if (params.no_mmproj) {
             params.mmproj = {};
         } else if (res.found_mmproj && params.mmproj.path.empty() && params.mmproj.url.empty()) {
@@ -415,12 +412,18 @@ static bool common_params_parse_ex(int argc, char ** argv, common_params_context
         // only download mmproj if the current example is using it
         for (auto & ex : mmproj_examples) {
             if (ctx_arg.ex == ex) {
-                common_params_handle_model(params.mmproj,    params.hf_token, "", params.offline);
+                common_params_handle_model(params.mmproj,    params.hf_token, params.offline);
                 break;
             }
         }
-        common_params_handle_model(params.speculative.model, params.hf_token, "", params.offline);
-        common_params_handle_model(params.vocoder.model,     params.hf_token, "", params.offline);
+        common_params_handle_model(params.speculative.model, params.hf_token, params.offline);
+        common_params_handle_model(params.vocoder.model,     params.hf_token, params.offline);
+    }
+
+    // model is required (except for server)
+    // TODO @ngxson : maybe show a list of available models in CLI in this case
+    if (params.model.path.empty() && ctx_arg.ex != LLAMA_EXAMPLE_SERVER) {
+        throw std::invalid_argument("error: --model is required\n");
     }
 
     if (params.escape) {
@@ -2072,11 +2075,8 @@ common_params_context common_params_parser_init(common_params & params, llama_ex
     add_opt(common_arg(
         {"-m", "--model"}, "FNAME",
         ex == LLAMA_EXAMPLE_EXPORT_LORA
-            ? std::string("model path from which to load base model")
-            : string_format(
-                "model path (default: `models/$filename` with filename from `--hf-file` "
-                "or `--model-url` if set, otherwise %s)", DEFAULT_MODEL_PATH
-            ),
+            ? "model path from which to load base model"
+            : "model path to load",
         [](common_params & params, const std::string & value) {
             params.model.path = value;
         }
diff --git a/common/common.h b/common/common.h
index d7634589e7..197af5e6f2 100644
--- a/common/common.h
+++ b/common/common.h
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@
     fprintf(stderr, "%s: built with %s for %s\n", __func__, LLAMA_COMPILER, LLAMA_BUILD_TARGET);    \
 } while(0)
 
-#define DEFAULT_MODEL_PATH "models/7B/ggml-model-f16.gguf"
-
 struct common_time_meas {
     common_time_meas(int64_t & t_acc, bool disable = false);
     ~common_time_meas();
diff --git a/tools/server/server.cpp b/tools/server/server.cpp
index 0ce5c14265..e9388f208b 100644
--- a/tools/server/server.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server.cpp
@@ -5662,8 +5662,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv, char ** envp) {
     // register API routes
     server_routes routes(params, ctx_server, ctx_http);
 
-    // TODO: improve this by changing arg.cpp
-    bool is_router_server = params.model.path == DEFAULT_MODEL_PATH;
+    bool is_router_server = params.model.path.empty();
     if (is_router_server) {
         // setup server instances manager
         routes.models.reset(new server_models(params, argc, argv, envp));