diff --git a/pdl-live-react/src-tauri/src/cli/run.rs b/pdl-live-react/src-tauri/src/cli/run.rs
index 3df8671c9..b50210149 100644
--- a/pdl-live-react/src-tauri/src/cli/run.rs
+++ b/pdl-live-react/src-tauri/src/cli/run.rs
@@ -19,39 +19,10 @@ pub fn run_pdl_program(
         Path::new(&source_file_path).file_name().unwrap()
     );
 
+    // async the model pull and pip installs
     let pull_future = pull_if_needed(&source_file_path);
     let bin_path_future = pip_install_interpreter_if_needed(app_handle);
 
-    let trace_arg = if let Some(arg) = trace_file {
-        if let serde_json::Value::String(f) = &arg.value {
-            "--trace=".to_owned() + f
-        } else {
-            "".to_owned()
-        }
-    } else {
-        "".to_owned()
-    };
-
-    let data_arg = if let Some(arg) = data {
-        if let serde_json::Value::String(s) = &arg.value {
-            format!("--data={}", s)
-        } else {
-            "".to_owned()
-        }
-    } else {
-        "".to_owned()
-    };
-
-    let stream_arg = if let Some(arg) = stream {
-        if let serde_json::Value::String(s) = &arg.value {
-            "--stream=".to_owned() + s
-        } else {
-            "".to_owned()
-        }
-    } else {
-        "".to_owned()
-    };
-
     // wait for any model pulls to finish
     block_on(pull_future).map_err(|e| match e {
         LoadError::IO(ee) => tauri::Error::Io(ee),
@@ -59,16 +30,30 @@ pub fn run_pdl_program(
         _ => tauri::Error::FailedToReceiveMessage,
     })?;
 
+    // wait for any pip installs to finish
     let bin_path = block_on(bin_path_future)?;
 
     let mut args = vec![
-        source_file_path.as_str(),
-        trace_arg.as_str(),
-        data_arg.as_str(),
-        stream_arg.as_str(),
+        source_file_path,
+        dashdash("--trace", trace_file),
+        dashdash("--data", data),
+        dashdash("--stream", stream),
     ];
     args.retain(|x| x.chars().count() > 0);
     cmd(bin_path.join("pdl"), &args).run()?;
 
     Ok(())
 }
+
+/// Format `--{opt}={a}` based on whether `a` is given or not
+fn dashdash(opt: &str, a: Option<&tauri_plugin_cli::ArgData>) -> String {
+    if let Some(arg) = a {
+        if let serde_json::Value::String(s) = &arg.value {
+            format!("{}={}", opt, s)
+        } else {
+            "".to_owned()
+        }
+    } else {
+        "".to_owned()
+    }
+}