-client = ArvadosClient.new(:host => ENV['ARVADOS_API_HOST'], :application_name => 'arvados-cli', :application_version => '1.0')
-arvados = client.discovered_api('arvados', ENV['ARVADOS_API_VERSION'])
+begin
+ client = ArvadosClient.new(:host => ENV['ARVADOS_API_HOST'], :application_name => 'arvados-cli', :application_version => '1.0')
+ arvados = client.discovered_api('arvados', ENV['ARVADOS_API_VERSION'])
+rescue Exception => e
+ puts "Failed to connect to Arvados API server: #{e}"
+ exit 1
+end