diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index 6cbdd55f168..fde7b891d9d 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -224,7 +224,8 @@ static char *prepare_index(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	const char **pathspec = NULL;
 
 	if (interactive) {
-		interactive_add(argc, argv, prefix);
+		if (interactive_add(argc, argv, prefix) != 0)
+			die("interactive add failed");
 		if (read_cache() < 0)
 			die("index file corrupt");
 		commit_style = COMMIT_AS_IS;