diff --git a/src/tools/src/dd_web_display.cxx b/src/tools/src/dd_web_display.cxx
index 101f44f7786a2ad269c36e8618a9917b8e904318..93a251d8635438167c5c98034729f57010f1ada9 100644
--- a/src/tools/src/dd_web_display.cxx
+++ b/src/tools/src/dd_web_display.cxx
@@ -227,7 +227,9 @@ void run_http_server(const settings& s) {
   detector.fromCompact(s.infile);
 
   if(s.export_geometry) {
+    spdlog::info("running in batch mode to export geometry ");
     detector.manager().Export(s.outfile.c_str());
+    std::exit(0);
   }