diff --git a/includes/run.php b/includes/run.php
index 28b4476b25988ca66ddb114d4846e93bdf53e6ee..db46dc7223105717ca14e2e073ad53b5a5cff431 100644
--- a/includes/run.php
+++ b/includes/run.php
@@ -2,16 +2,15 @@
 
 namespace Automattic\WP\WP_CLI_Cron_Control_Offload;
 
-if ( ! defined( 'WP_CLI' ) || ! \WP_CLI ) {
-	return;
-}
-
-use WP_CLI;
-
 /**
  *
  */
 function run_event( $args ) {
-	return false;
+	if ( ! defined( 'WP_CLI' ) || ! \WP_CLI ) {
+		trigger_error( 'Attempted to run event without WP-CLI loaded. ' . compact( $args ), E_USER_WARNING );
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	// TODO: run event, sending output to error log
 }
 add_action( ACTION, __NAMESPACE__ . '\run_event' );