diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 3286105..0f7e1dc 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -559,17 +559,9 @@
 			p.copyright = input("Copyright string", copyrightString);
 
 			while (true) {
-				auto depname = input("Add dependency (leave empty to skip)", null);
-				if (!depname.length) break;
-				try {
-					auto ver = dub.getLatestVersion(depname);
-					auto dep = ver.isBranch ? Dependency(ver) : Dependency("~>" ~ ver.toString());
-					p.buildSettings.dependencies[depname] =	dep;
-					logInfo("Added dependency %s %s", depname, dep.versionSpec);
-				} catch (Exception e) {
-					logError("Could not find package '%s'.", depname);
-					logDebug("Full error: %s", e.toString().sanitize);
-				}
+				auto depspec = input("Add dependency (leave empty to skip)", null);
+				if (!depspec.length) break;
+				addDependency(dub, p, depspec);
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -1173,32 +1165,14 @@
 		enforceUsage(free_args.length != 0, "Expected one or more arguments.");
 		enforceUsage(app_args.length == 0, "Unexpected application arguments.");
 
-		string filetype = existsFile(dub.rootPath ~ "dub.json") ? "json" : "sdl";
-		foreach (depname; free_args) {
-			try {
-				Dependency dep;
-				auto parts = depname.findSplit("=");
-				if (!parts[1].empty)
-				{
-					depname = parts[0];
-					dep = Dependency(parts[2]);
-				}
-				else
-				{
-					auto ver = dub.getLatestVersion(depname);
-					dep = ver.isBranch ? Dependency(ver) : Dependency("~>" ~ ver.toString());
-				}
-				auto pkg = readPackageRecipe(dub.rootPath ~ ("dub." ~ filetype));
+		if (!loadCwdPackage(dub, true)) return 1;
+		auto recipe = dub.project.rootPackage.rawRecipe.clone;
 
-				pkg.buildSettings.dependencies[depname] = dep;
-				writePackageRecipe(dub.rootPath ~ ("dub." ~ filetype), pkg);
-
-				logInfo("Added dependency %s %s", depname, dep.versionSpec);
-			} catch (Exception e) {
-				logError("Could not find package '%s'.", depname);
-				logDebug("Full error: %s", e.toString().sanitize);
-			}
+		foreach (depspec; free_args) {
+			if (!addDependency(dub, recipe, depspec))
+				return 1;
 		}
+		writePackageRecipe(dub.project.rootPackage.recipePath, recipe);
 
 		return 0;
 	}
@@ -2161,3 +2135,27 @@
 {
 	logWarn("The '%s' Command was renamed to '%s'. Please update your scripts.", prev, curr);
 }
+
+private bool addDependency(Dub dub, ref PackageRecipe recipe, string depspec)
+{
+	Dependency dep;
+	// split <package>=<version-specifier>
+	auto parts = depspec.findSplit("=");
+	auto depname = parts[0];
+	if (!parts[1].empty)
+		dep = Dependency(parts[2]);
+	else
+	{
+		try {
+			auto ver = dub.getLatestVersion(depname);
+			dep = ver.isBranch ? Dependency(ver) : Dependency("~>" ~ ver.toString());
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			logError("Could not find package '%s'.", depname);
+			logDebug("Full error: %s", e.toString().sanitize);
+			return false;
+		}
+	}
+	recipe.buildSettings.dependencies[depname] = dep;
+	logInfo("Adding dependency %s %s", depname, dep.versionSpec);
+	return true;
+}
diff --git a/test/issue1574-addcommand.sh b/test/issue1574-addcommand.sh
index 647a0fd..002acb1 100755
--- a/test/issue1574-addcommand.sh
+++ b/test/issue1574-addcommand.sh
@@ -28,3 +28,9 @@
 $DUB add gitcompatibledubpackage=1.0.2 non-existing-issue1574-pkg='~>9.8.7' --skip-registry=all
 grep -q '"gitcompatibledubpackage"\s*:\s*"1\.0\.2"' dub.json
 grep -q '"non-existing-issue1574-pkg"\s*:\s*"~>9\.8\.7"' dub.json
+if $DUB add foo=1.2.3 gitcompatibledubpackage='~>a.b.c' --skip-registry=all; then
+    die $LINENO 'Adding non-semver spec should error'
+fi
+if grep -q '"foo"' dub.json; then
+    die $LINENO 'Failing add command should not write recipe file'
+fi