diff --git a/ybd/__main__.py b/ybd/__main__.py
index 4e4bb9a..46f8047 100755
--- a/ybd/__main__.py
+++ b/ybd/__main__.py
@@ -51,8 +51,6 @@
         defs = Definitions()
     with app.timer('CACHE-KEYS', 'cache-key calculations'):
         cache.cache_key(defs, app.config['target'])
-        if app.config.get('mode', 'normal') == 'keys-only':
-            os._exit(0)
 
     cache.cull(app.config['artifacts'])
     target = defs.get(app.config['target'])
@@ -61,6 +59,9 @@
         app.exit('ARCH', 'ERROR: no definitions found for', app.config['arch'])
 
     defs.save_trees()
+    if app.config.get('mode', 'normal') == 'keys-only':
+        print target['cache']
+        os._exit(0)
 
     sandbox.executor = sandboxlib.executor_for_platform()
     app.log(app.config['target'], 'Sandbox using %s' % sandbox.executor)
diff --git a/ybd/definitions.py b/ybd/definitions.py
index af1d5be..c451b9d 100644
--- a/ybd/definitions.py
+++ b/ybd/definitions.py
@@ -255,13 +255,17 @@ def save_trees(self):
         checksum for the state of the working subdirectories
         '''
         with app.chdir(app.config['defdir']):
-            checksum = check_output('ls -lRA */', shell=True)
+            try:
+                checksum = check_output('ls -lRA */', shell=True)
+            except:
+                checksum = check_output('ls -lRA .', shell=True)
         checksum = hashlib.md5(checksum).hexdigest()
         self._trees = {'.checksum': checksum}
         for name in self._definitions:
             if self._definitions[name].get('tree') is not None:
                 self._trees[name] = [self._definitions[name]['ref'],
-                                     self._definitions[name]['tree']]
+                                     self._definitions[name]['tree'],
+                                     self._definitions[name].get('cache')]
 
         with open(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), '.trees'), 'w') as f:
             f.write(yaml.safe_dump(self._trees, default_flow_style=False))