diff --git a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py
index b5b185f2d6c..25422412613 100644
--- a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py
+++ b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/cloudmonkey.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ except ImportError, e:
 try:
     from precache import apicache
 except ImportError:
-    apicache = {}
+    apicache = {'count': 0, 'verbs': [], 'asyncapis': []}
 
 try:
     import readline
@@ -327,11 +327,14 @@ class CloudMonkeyShell(cmd.Cmd, object):
         it rollbacks last datastore or api precached datastore.
         """
         response = self.make_request("listApis")
-        self.apicache = monkeycache(response)
         if response is None:
-            monkeyprint("Failed to sync apis, check your config")
+            monkeyprint("Failed to sync apis, please check your config?")
+            monkeyprint("Note: `sync` requires api discovery service enabled" +
+                        " on the CloudStack management server")
             return
+        self.apicache = monkeycache(response)
         savecache(self.apicache, self.cache_file)
+        monkeyprint("%s APIs discovered and cached" % self.apicache["count"])
         self.loadcache()
 
     def do_api(self, args):
diff --git a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py
index 5dfe09bf85d..6a5feab8d12 100644
--- a/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py
+++ b/tools/cli/cloudmonkey/config.py
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ def read_config(get_attr, set_attr):
         print "Welcome! Using `set` configure the necessary settings:"
         print " ".join(sorted(config_options))
         print "Config file:", config_file
+        print "After setting up, run the `sync` command to sync apis\n"
 
     missing_keys = []
     for section in config_fields.keys():