diff --git a/src/utils/base-command.ts b/src/utils/base-command.ts
index 3c9b45521..20cb69477 100644
--- a/src/utils/base-command.ts
+++ b/src/utils/base-command.ts
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ export function omitFlags(flagsToOmit: string[]): typeof BaseCommand.flags {
 export default abstract class BaseCommand extends Command {
   static flags = {
     help: flags.help({char: 'h'}),
-    input: flags.string({char: 'i', required: false, description: 'Input file to be converted'}),
-    output: flags.string({char: 'o', required: false}),
+    input: flags.string({char: 'i', required: true, description: 'Input file to be converted'}),
+    output: flags.string({char: 'o', required: true}),
     logLevel: flags.string({char: 'L', required: false, default: 'info', options: ['info', 'warn', 'debug', 'verbose']}),
     listAllCommands: flags.boolean({char: 'A', required: false, description: 'List all SAF CLI commands'}),
   }
@@ -35,9 +35,15 @@ export default abstract class BaseCommand extends Command {
     const {flags} = this.parse(this.constructor as Input<typeof BaseCommand.flags>)
     this.parsedFlags = flags
     this.logger = createWinstonLogger(this.constructor.name, flags.logLevel as unknown as string)
-
-    if (!flags.input) {
-      BaseCommand.inputFileData = await read(process.stdin, this.logger)
+    if (this.parsedFlags.input === '-') {
+      await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+        setTimeout(() => reject(new Error('STDIN Timeout')), 5000)
+
+        read(process.stdin, this.logger).then(data => {
+          BaseCommand.inputFileData = data
+          resolve(data)
+        })
+      })
     }
 
     if (flags.listAllCommands) {