diff --git a/commands/api/api.go b/commands/api/api.go
index e41a9437f33d33847a4869e605ca24dcefc28e85..0a22f98aaa06e17f0b4e011edc4e0509cfb83a29 100644
--- a/commands/api/api.go
+++ b/commands/api/api.go
@@ -154,8 +154,16 @@ func NewCmdApi(f *cmdutils.Factory, runF func(*ApiOptions) error) *cobra.Command
 				GITLAB_HOST, GITLAB_URI, GITLAB_URL: specify a GitLab host to make request to.
 			`),
 		},
-		Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
+		Args: cobra.MaximumNArgs(1),
 		RunE: func(c *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			if len(args) == 0 {
+				err := c.Help()
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				return fmt.Errorf("error: must provide at least 1 argument")
+			}
+
 			opts.RequestPath = args[0]
 			opts.RequestMethodPassed = c.Flags().Changed("method")
 			opts.Config, _ = f.Config()
diff --git a/commands/api/api_test.go b/commands/api/api_test.go
index 85bad997b788e371e9bc7c71bbfaccdac252a90d..e8009acb683a8daa1de1eb85224a061650441fee 100644
--- a/commands/api/api_test.go
+++ b/commands/api/api_test.go
@@ -189,9 +189,8 @@ func Test_NewCmdApi(t *testing.T) {
 			wantsErr: false,
 		},
 		{
-			name:     "no arguments",
-			cli:      "",
-			wantsErr: true,
+			name: "no arguments",
+			cli:  "",
 		},
 		{
 			name: "with hostname",
diff --git a/commands/cmdutils/cmdutils.go b/commands/cmdutils/cmdutils.go
index 8e9fb87daacbd844804c8ae807634f4a29a57e04..3fa355534ba5147c768f05f154b9aa697b471f45 100644
--- a/commands/cmdutils/cmdutils.go
+++ b/commands/cmdutils/cmdutils.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli/pkg/iostreams"
 
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/xanzy/go-gitlab"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli/api"
 	"gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cli/internal/glrepo"
@@ -62,6 +63,15 @@ func LoadGitLabTemplate(tmplType, tmplName string) (string, error) {
 	return strings.TrimSpace(string(tmpl)), nil
 }
 
+func ReturnHelpWhenNoArgs(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+	if len(args) == 0 {
+		err := cmd.Help()
+		if err != nil {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // TODO: properly handle errors in this function.
 //
 //	For now, it returns nil and empty slice if there's an error