diff --git a/swh/scheduler/cli/__init__.py b/swh/scheduler/cli/__init__.py
index 34f33dd..3d45f8a 100644
--- a/swh/scheduler/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/swh/scheduler/cli/__init__.py
@@ -1,93 +1,100 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2016-2020  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 import logging
 
 import click
 
 from swh.core.cli import CONTEXT_SETTINGS, AliasedGroup
 
 
 @click.group(name="scheduler", context_settings=CONTEXT_SETTINGS, cls=AliasedGroup)
 @click.option(
     "--config-file",
     "-C",
     default=None,
     type=click.Path(exists=True, dir_okay=False,),
     help="Configuration file.",
 )
 @click.option(
     "--database",
     "-d",
     default=None,
     help="Scheduling database DSN (imply cls is 'local')",
 )
 @click.option(
     "--url", "-u", default=None, help="Scheduler's url access (imply cls is 'remote')"
 )
 @click.option(
     "--no-stdout", is_flag=True, default=False, help="Do NOT output logs on the console"
 )
 @click.pass_context
 def cli(ctx, config_file, database, url, no_stdout):
     """Software Heritage Scheduler tools.
 
     Use a local scheduler instance by default (plugged to the
     main scheduler db).
     """
+    try:
+        from psycopg2 import OperationalError
+    except ImportError:
+
+        class OperationalError(Exception):
+            pass
+
     from swh.core import config
     from swh.scheduler.celery_backend.config import setup_log_handler
     from swh.scheduler import get_scheduler, DEFAULT_CONFIG
 
     ctx.ensure_object(dict)
     log_level = ctx.obj.get("log_level", logging.INFO)
 
     setup_log_handler(
         loglevel=log_level,
         colorize=False,
         format="[%(levelname)s] %(name)s -- %(message)s",
         log_console=not no_stdout,
     )
 
     logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
     scheduler = None
     conf = config.read(config_file, DEFAULT_CONFIG)
     if "scheduler" not in conf:
         raise ValueError("missing 'scheduler' configuration")
 
     if database:
         conf["scheduler"]["cls"] = "local"
         conf["scheduler"]["args"]["db"] = database
     elif url:
         conf["scheduler"]["cls"] = "remote"
         conf["scheduler"]["args"] = {"url": url}
     sched_conf = conf["scheduler"]
     try:
         logger.debug("Instantiating scheduler with %s" % (sched_conf))
         scheduler = get_scheduler(**sched_conf)
-    except ValueError:
+    except (ValueError, OperationalError):
         # it's the subcommand to decide whether not having a proper
         # scheduler instance is a problem.
         pass
 
     ctx.obj["scheduler"] = scheduler
     ctx.obj["config"] = conf
 
 
 from . import admin, task, task_type  # noqa
 
 
 def main():
     import click.core
 
     click.core.DEPRECATED_HELP_NOTICE = """
 
 DEPRECATED! Please use the command 'swh scheduler'."""
     cli.deprecated = True
     return cli(auto_envvar_prefix="SWH_SCHEDULER")
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     main()