diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f8f8e1317..cf9163a77 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
     "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "node-fetch": "^2.0.0",
     "npm-paths": "^1.0.0",
-    "npm-run": "^5.0.1",
+    "npm-run": "4.1.2",
     "opn": "^5.2.0",
     "ora": "^1.4.0",
     "parse-github-url": "^1.0.2",
diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index 61291d59a..b9af016ad 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
   "extends": [
     "config:base",
     "docker:disable"
-  ]
+  ],
+  "ignoreDeps": ["npm-run"]
 }
diff --git a/src/cmds/codegen/codegen.ts b/src/cmds/codegen/codegen.ts
index 05f77f507..543f6195f 100644
--- a/src/cmds/codegen/codegen.ts
+++ b/src/cmds/codegen/codegen.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import { GraphQLConfig, GraphQLProjectConfig } from 'graphql-config'
 import { merge } from 'lodash'
 import { Arguments } from 'yargs'
 import { spawnSync } from 'npm-run'
-import getApolloCodegenBin from './getApolloCodegenBin'
 import * as crossSpawn from 'cross-spawn'
 import { getTmpPath } from '../..'
 import * as fs from 'fs'
@@ -128,8 +127,13 @@ export class Codegen {
         }
 
         if (generator === 'typegen') {
+
+          if (!output.typings || output.typings === '') {
+            throw new Error('Please provide output.typings path in graphql config to use typegen')
+          }
+
           inputSchemaPath = inputSchemaPath || '**/*.ts'
-          const binPath = await getApolloCodegenBin()
+          const binPath = require.resolve('apollo-codegen').replace('index.js', 'cli.js')
           const tmpSchemaPath = getTmpPath()
           fs.writeFileSync(
             tmpSchemaPath,
@@ -137,7 +141,7 @@ export class Codegen {
           )
           const args = [
             'generate',
-            input,
+            input || '{binding,prisma}/*.ts',
             '--schema',
             tmpSchemaPath,
             '--output',
@@ -145,10 +149,18 @@ export class Codegen {
             '--target',
             language,
           ]
+
           const child = crossSpawn.sync(binPath, args)
+          if (child.error) {
+            if (child.error.message === `spawnSync apollo-codegen ENOENT`) {
+              throw new Error(`Generator apollo-codegen is not installed.`)
+            }
+            throw new Error(child.error.message)
+          }
+
           const stderr = child.stderr && child.stderr.toString()
           if (stderr && stderr.length > 0) {
-            console.error(child.stderr.toString())
+            throw new Error(child.stderr.toString())
           }
           this.context.spinner.succeed(
             `Typedefs for project ${this.projectDisplayName()} generated to ${chalk.green(
@@ -158,6 +170,11 @@ export class Codegen {
           // fs.unlinkSync(tmpSchemaPath)
         } else {
           const args = ['--input', inputSchemaPath, '--language', language]
+
+          if (!output.binding || output.binding === '' && !output.typeDefs || output.typeDefs === '') {
+            throw new Error('Please provide either output.binding or output.typeDefs in graphql config to use this generator')
+          }
+
           if (output.binding) {
             args.push('--outputBinding', output.binding)
           }
@@ -165,9 +182,19 @@ export class Codegen {
             args.push('--outputTypedefs', output.typeDefs)
           }
           const child = spawnSync(generator, args)
+
+          if (child.error) {
+            if (child.error.message === `spawnSync ${generator} ENOENT`) {
+              const prismaVersionMessage = generator === 'prisma-binding' || 'graphql-binding' ?
+              `Please install ${generator} version > 2.x to use "graphql codegen"` : ''
+              throw new Error(`Generator ${generator} is not installed. ${prismaVersionMessage}`)
+            }
+            throw new Error(child.error.message)
+          }
+
           const stderr = child.stderr && child.stderr.toString()
           if (stderr && stderr.length > 0) {
-            console.error(stderr)
+            throw new Error(stderr)
           }
 
           this.context.spinner.succeed(
diff --git a/src/cmds/codegen/getApolloCodegenBin.ts b/src/cmds/codegen/getApolloCodegenBin.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 82bc9151f..000000000
--- a/src/cmds/codegen/getApolloCodegenBin.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-import * as path from 'path'
-import * as fs from 'fs-extra'
-import { getBinPath } from './getBin'
-
-export default async function getApolloCodegenBin(): Promise<string> {
-  let binPath = path.join(
-    __dirname,
-    '../../node_modules/apollo-codegen/lib/cli.js',
-  )
-
-  if (!fs.pathExistsSync(binPath)) {
-    binPath = path.join(
-      __dirname,
-      '../../../../node_modules/apollo-codegen/lib/cli.js',
-    )
-  }
-
-  if (!fs.pathExistsSync(binPath)) {
-    binPath = path.join(__dirname, '../../../apollo-codegen/lib/cli.js')
-  }
-
-  if (!fs.pathExistsSync(binPath)) {
-    binPath = (await getBinPath('apollo-codegen')) || 'apollo-codegen'
-  }
-
-  return binPath
-}
diff --git a/src/cmds/codegen/getBin.ts b/src/cmds/codegen/getBin.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index c84d3871b..000000000
--- a/src/cmds/codegen/getBin.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-import * as path from 'path'
-import * as fs from 'fs-extra'
-
-function getPaths(bin: string): string[] {
-  const envPath = process.env.PATH || ''
-  const envExt = process.env.PATHEXT || ''
-  return envPath
-    .replace(/["]+/g, '')
-    .split(path.delimiter)
-    .map(chunk => {
-      return envExt.split(path.delimiter).map(ext => {
-        return path.join(chunk, bin + ext)
-      })
-    })
-    .reduce((a, b) => {
-      return a.concat(b)
-    })
-}
-
-export async function getBinPath(bin: string): Promise<string | null> {
-  const paths = getPaths(bin)
-  const exist = await Promise.all(paths.map(p => fs.pathExists(p)))
-  const existsIndex = exist.findIndex(e => e)
-  if (existsIndex > -1) {
-    return paths[existsIndex]
-  }
-
-  return null
-}