diff --git a/src/odoc/bin/main.ml b/src/odoc/bin/main.ml
index 907d91047a..684b3422ae 100644
--- a/src/odoc/bin/main.ml
+++ b/src/odoc/bin/main.ml
@@ -499,15 +499,8 @@ module Indexing = struct
   let index dst json warnings_options includes_rec inputs_in_file inputs =
     let marshall = if json then `JSON else `Marshall in
     output_file ~dst marshall >>= fun output ->
-    match (includes_rec, inputs_in_file, inputs) with
-    | [], [], [] ->
-        Result.Error
-          (`Msg
-            "At least one of --file-list or --include-rec or an .odocl file \
-             must be passed to odoc compile-index")
-    | _ ->
-        Indexing.compile marshall ~output ~warnings_options ~includes_rec
-          ~inputs_in_file ~odocls:inputs
+    Indexing.compile marshall ~output ~warnings_options ~includes_rec
+      ~inputs_in_file ~odocls:inputs
   let cmd =
     let dst =
       let doc =
diff --git a/src/odoc/indexing.ml b/src/odoc/indexing.ml
index 80d22e84c2..b7a3a16186 100644
--- a/src/odoc/indexing.ml
+++ b/src/odoc/indexing.ml
@@ -123,8 +123,6 @@ let compile out_format ~output ~warnings_options ~includes_rec ~inputs_in_file
                [] include_rec)
       |> List.concat)
   in
-  if files = [] then Error (`Msg "No .odocl files were included")
-  else
-    match out_format with
-    | `JSON -> compile_to_json ~output ~warnings_options files
-    | `Marshall -> compile_to_marshall ~output ~warnings_options files
+  match out_format with
+  | `JSON -> compile_to_json ~output ~warnings_options files
+  | `Marshall -> compile_to_marshall ~output ~warnings_options files
diff --git a/test/search/html_search.t/run.t b/test/search/html_search.t/run.t
index 4271bc810e..1354a36c2d 100644
--- a/test/search/html_search.t/run.t
+++ b/test/search/html_search.t/run.t
@@ -243,12 +243,18 @@ Testing the warnings/errors for the `compile-index` command:
 Passing an inexistent file:
 
   $ odoc compile-index --include-rec babar
-  ERROR: No .odocl files were included
-  [1]
+  $ odoc compile-index --file-list babar
+  odoc: option '--file-list': no 'babar' file or directory
+  Usage: odoc compile-index [--file-list=FILE] [--include-rec=DIR] [--json] [OPTION]… [FILE]…
+  Try 'odoc compile-index --help' or 'odoc --help' for more information.
+  [2]
 
-Passing an empty folder:
+Passing an empty folder is allowed:
 
   $ mkdir foo
+  $ odoc compile-index --include-rec foo
+
+Wrong file extensions:
 
   $ odoc compile-index -o index.odoc
   ERROR: When generating a binary index, the output must have a .odoc-index file extension
@@ -259,9 +265,6 @@ Passing an empty folder:
   $ odoc compile-index  --json  -o index.odoc-index
   ERROR: When generating a json index, the output must have a .json file extension
   [1]
-  $ odoc compile-index --include-rec foo
-  ERROR: No .odocl files were included
-  [1]
 
 Passing a file which is not a correctly marshalled one:
 
@@ -272,9 +275,6 @@ Passing a file which is not a correctly marshalled one:
   
 
 
-
-Passing no file:
+Passing no file is allowed, generating an empty index:
 
   $ odoc compile-index
-  ERROR: At least one of --file-list or --include-rec or an .odocl file must be passed to odoc compile-index
-  [1]