diff --git a/frontends/etiquette_cli.py b/frontends/etiquette_cli.py
index c914061..81d867a 100644
--- a/frontends/etiquette_cli.py
+++ b/frontends/etiquette_cli.py
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ def main(argv):
         )
     except etiquette.exceptions.NoClosestPhotoDB as exc:
         pipeable.stderr(exc.error_message)
-        pipeable.stderr('Try etiquette_cli init')
+        pipeable.stderr('Try `etiquette_cli.py init` to create the database.')
         return 1
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/frontends/etiquette_flask/etiquette_flask_dev.py b/frontends/etiquette_flask/etiquette_flask_dev.py
index 5315259..c74b133 100644
--- a/frontends/etiquette_flask/etiquette_flask_dev.py
+++ b/frontends/etiquette_flask/etiquette_flask_dev.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ def etiquette_flask_launch(
         backend.common.init_photodb(log_level=LOG_LEVEL)
     except etiquette.exceptions.NoClosestPhotoDB as exc:
         pipeable.stderr(exc.error_message)
-        pipeable.stderr('Try etiquette_cli init')
+        pipeable.stderr('Try `etiquette_cli.py init` to create the database.')
         return 1
 
     message = f'Starting server on port {port}, pid={os.getpid()}'
diff --git a/frontends/etiquette_repl.py b/frontends/etiquette_repl.py
index 26c3e25..de82f4c 100644
--- a/frontends/etiquette_repl.py
+++ b/frontends/etiquette_repl.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def erepl_argparse(args):
         P = etiquette.photodb.PhotoDB.closest_photodb(log_level=LOG_LEVEL)
     except etiquette.exceptions.NoClosestPhotoDB as exc:
         pipeable.stderr(exc.error_message)
-        pipeable.stderr('Try etiquette_cli init')
+        pipeable.stderr('Try `etiquette_cli.py init` to create the database.')
         return 1
 
     if args.exec_statement: