diff --git a/bin/cml/runner.js b/bin/cml/runner.js
index 74f8a4c1e..fceff3873 100755
--- a/bin/cml/runner.js
+++ b/bin/cml/runner.js
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ exports.builder = (yargs) =>
       },
       cloudSshPrivate: {
         type: 'string',
-        coerce: (val) => val.replace(/\n/g, '\\n'),
+        coerce: (val) => val && val.replace(/\n/g, '\\n'),
         description:
           'Custom private RSA SSH key. If not provided an automatically generated throwaway key will be used'
       },
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 80a2d056c..73f377ca6 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@dvcorg/cml",
-  "version": "0.7.3",
+  "version": "0.7.4",
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
   "requires": true,
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 88ce235f1..d2b54fb84 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@dvcorg/cml",
-  "version": "0.7.3",
+  "version": "0.7.4",
   "author": {
     "name": "DVC",
     "url": "http://cml.dev"