diff --git a/swh/indexer/cli.py b/swh/indexer/cli.py
--- a/swh/indexer/cli.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/cli.py
@@ -249,7 +249,21 @@
     from swh.journal.client import get_journal_client
     from swh.scheduler import get_scheduler
 
-    scheduler = _get_api(get_scheduler, ctx.obj["config"], "scheduler", scheduler_url)
+    cfg = ctx.obj["config"]
+    journal_cfg = cfg.get("journal", {})
+
+    scheduler = _get_api(get_scheduler, cfg, "scheduler", scheduler_url)
+
+    brokers = brokers or journal_cfg.get("brokers")
+    if not brokers:
+        raise ValueError("The brokers configuration is mandatory.")
+
+    prefix = prefix or journal_cfg.get("prefix")
+    group_id = group_id or journal_cfg.get("group_id")
+    origin_metadata_task_type = origin_metadata_task_type or journal_cfg.get(
+        "origin_metadata_task_type"
+    )
+    stop_after_objects = stop_after_objects or journal_cfg.get("stop_after_objects")
 
     client = get_journal_client(
         cls="kafka",
diff --git a/swh/indexer/tests/test_cli.py b/swh/indexer/tests/test_cli.py
--- a/swh/indexer/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 from click.testing import CliRunner
 from confluent_kafka import Consumer, Producer
+import pytest
 
 from swh.indexer.cli import indexer_cli_group
 from swh.indexer.storage.interface import IndexerStorageInterface
@@ -383,3 +384,14 @@
     tasks = indexer_scheduler.search_tasks()
     assert len(tasks) == 1
     _assert_tasks_for_origins(tasks, [0])
+
+
+def test_journal_client_without_brokers(
+    storage, indexer_scheduler, kafka_prefix: str, kafka_server, consumer: Consumer
+):
+    """Without brokers configuration, the cli fails."""
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="brokers"):
+        invoke(
+            indexer_scheduler, False, ["journal-client",],
+        )