diff --git a/tools/run-dev.py b/tools/run-dev.py
index 896af46436..b45407424f 100755
--- a/tools/run-dev.py
+++ b/tools/run-dev.py
@@ -38,6 +38,13 @@ behavior, the reverse proxy itself does *not* automatically restart on changes
 to this file.
 """)
 
+
+TOOLS_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(TOOLS_DIR))
+from tools.lib.test_script import(
+    get_provisioning_status,
+)
+
 parser.add_option('--test',
                   action='store_true', dest='test',
                   help='Use the testing database and ports')
@@ -50,8 +57,19 @@ parser.add_option('--no-clear-memcached',
                   action='store_false', dest='clear_memcached',
                   default=True, help='Do not clear memcached')
 
+parser.add_option('--force', dest='force',
+                      action="store_true",
+                      default=False, help='Run tests despite possible problems.')
+
 (options, arguments) = parser.parse_args()
 
+if not options.force:
+    ok, msg = get_provisioning_status()
+    if not ok:
+        print(msg)
+        print('If you really know what you are doing, use --force to run anyway.')
+        sys.exit(1)
+
 if options.interface is None:
     user_id = os.getuid()
     user_name = pwd.getpwuid(user_id).pw_name