diff --git a/Program.cs b/Program.cs
index fe57405..98488c3 100644
--- a/Program.cs
+++ b/Program.cs
@@ -38,9 +38,34 @@ namespace XNeedle
             // Auto-discover operations via reflection
             BangOperation.RegisterAll();
 
-            var xnSource = XnParser.StripComments(File.ReadAllText(opts.XnDefinition));
-            Console.WriteLine(xnSource);
-            var masterRule = (Rule)XnParser.RuleObject.Parse(xnSource);
+            var rawSource = File.ReadAllText(opts.XnDefinition);
+            var xnSource = XnParser.StripComments(rawSource);
+            Rule masterRule;
+            try
+            {
+                masterRule = (Rule)XnParser.RuleObject.Parse(xnSource);
+            }
+            catch (ParseException ex)
+            {
+                var lines = rawSource.Split('\n');
+                int line = ex.Position?.Line ?? -1;
+                int col = ex.Position?.Column ?? -1;
+                bool showPosition = (line != -1) && (col != -1);
+
+                if (showPosition)
+                {
+                    Console.Error.WriteLine($"{opts.XnDefinition}({line},{col}): parse error: {ex.Message}");
+                    var srcLine = line <= lines.Length ? lines[line - 1].TrimEnd() : "";
+                    var pointer = new string(' ', Math.Max(0, col - 1)) + "^";
+                    Console.Error.WriteLine($"  {srcLine}");
+                    Console.Error.WriteLine($"  {pointer}");
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    Console.Error.WriteLine($"{opts.XnDefinition}: parse error: {ex.Message}");
+                }
+                return;
+            }
             var doc = XDocument.Load(opts.Input, LoadOptions.PreserveWhitespace);
             var encoding = XmlRoundtripWriter.DetectEncoding(File.ReadAllBytes(opts.Input));
             var sloc = new SourceLocation(opts.Input, encoding);