diff --git a/algo/base/Options.cxx b/algo/base/Options.cxx
index efd141f09afccdeb448676a0aafb708cf02c98e6..c856d4a792584bb0b4828814952abac7abc3d549 100644
--- a/algo/base/Options.cxx
+++ b/algo/base/Options.cxx
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ Options::Options(int argc, char** argv)
       "select device (cpu, cuda0, cuda1, hip0, ...)")
     ("log-level,l", po::value(&fLogLevel)->default_value(info)->value_name("<level>"),
       "set log level (debug, info, warning, error, fatal)")
-    ("monitor,m", po::value(&fMonitorUri)->value_name("<uri>"),
-      "URI specifying monitor output (e.g. file:tmp/monitor.txt, empty = no monitor)")
+    ("monitor,m", po::value(&fMonitorUri)->value_name("<uri>")->implicit_value("file:cout"),
+      "URI specifying monitor output (e.g. file:/tmp/monitor.txt, influx1:login:8086:cbmreco_status). Prints to cout when no argument is given. Monitor is disabled when flag is not set.")
     ("num-ts,n", po::value<int>(&fNumTimeslices)->default_value(-1)->value_name("<num>"),
       "Stop after <num> timeslices (-1 = all)")
     ("skip-ts,s", po::value<int>(&fSkipTimeslices)->default_value(0)->value_name("<num>"),