diff --git a/scrapy/commands/deploy.py b/scrapy/commands/deploy.py
index 65827b5eb..a7cd8c9a9 100644
--- a/scrapy/commands/deploy.py
+++ b/scrapy/commands/deploy.py
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ setup(
 
 class Command(ScrapyCommand):
 
+    requires_project = True
+
     def syntax(self):
         return "[options] [ <target:project> | -l <target> | -L ]"