diff --git a/src/config/config.cc b/src/config/config.cc
index f1486f88df4..86073a55f78 100644
--- a/src/config/config.cc
+++ b/src/config/config.cc
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ Config::Config() {
        new IntField(&force_compact_file_min_deleted_percentage, 10, 1, 100)},
       {"db-name", true, new StringField(&db_name, "change.me.db")},
       {"dir", true, new StringField(&dir, kDefaultDir)},
-      {"snapshot-dir", false, new StringField(&snapshot_dir, "")},
+      {"snapshot-dir", true, new StringField(&snapshot_dir, "")},
       {"backup-dir", false, new StringField(&backup_dir, kDefaultBackupDir)},
       {"log-dir", true, new StringField(&log_dir, "")},
       {"log-level", false, new EnumField<int>(&log_level, log_levels, google::INFO)},