diff --git a/cosmos_config.sh b/cosmos_config.sh
index d829a0e..59c769b 100644
--- a/cosmos_config.sh
+++ b/cosmos_config.sh
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ EOF
   exit 1
 fi
 
+# check the jq dependency is available
+type foo >/dev/null 2>&1 || { printf >&2 "\nThe jq dependency is missing. Please first run 'brew install jq'\n"; exit 1; }
+
 instances=($(curl --silent --cert $cert "$api/instances" | jq --raw-output ".[] | .id,.private_ip_address"))
 num_of_instances=$((${#instances[@]} / 2)) # we know the data arrives in a pair: <id>,<ip>