diff --git a/tools/completion/completion.cpp b/tools/completion/completion.cpp
index 58d598fcc0..a24482956e 100644
--- a/tools/completion/completion.cpp
+++ b/tools/completion/completion.cpp
@@ -146,13 +146,19 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     ctx   = llama_init->context();
     model = llama_init->model();
-    smpl  = llama_init->sampler(0);
 
     if (ctx == NULL) {
         LOG_ERR("%s: error: unable to create context\n", __func__);
         return 1;
     }
 
+    if (model == NULL) {
+        LOG_ERR("%s: error: unable to load model\n", __func__);
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    smpl = llama_init->sampler(0);
+
     llama_memory_t mem = llama_get_memory(ctx);
     const llama_vocab * vocab = llama_model_get_vocab(model);