diff --git a/commands/cloud_deploy.go b/commands/cloud_deploy.go
index c4533464..2cd722cc 100644
--- a/commands/cloud_deploy.go
+++ b/commands/cloud_deploy.go
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ func (d *KoolDeploy) createReleaseFile() (filename string, err error) {
 	}
 
 	if len(allFiles) == 0 {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("no deploy config files found")
+		err = fmt.Errorf("no kool.cloud.yml config files found")
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -238,6 +238,8 @@ func (d *KoolDeploy) createReleaseFile() (filename string, err error) {
 		d.shell.Println("  -", file)
 	}
 
+	tarball.SourceDir(d.env.Get("PWD"))
+
 	filename, err = tarball.CompressFiles(d.handleDeployEnv(allFiles))
 
 	if err == nil {
diff --git a/commands/cloud_deploy_test.go b/commands/cloud_deploy_test.go
index e3b946d2..655a97dd 100644
--- a/commands/cloud_deploy_test.go
+++ b/commands/cloud_deploy_test.go
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ func TestCreateReleaseFile(t *testing.T) {
 	tmpDir := t.TempDir()
 	fake.env.Set("PWD", tmpDir)
 
-	if _, err := fake.createReleaseFile(); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no deploy config files found") {
+	if _, err := fake.createReleaseFile(); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no kool.cloud.yml config files found") {
 		t.Errorf("expected error on createReleaseFile when no kool.deploy.yml exists in current working directory; got: %v", err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/services/tgz/tgz.go b/services/tgz/tgz.go
index f38b07d1..c1f66476 100644
--- a/services/tgz/tgz.go
+++ b/services/tgz/tgz.go
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ func (tgz *TarGz) CompressFiles(files []string) (tmpfile string, err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+// SourceDir defines the source directory that is going to be compressed
+func (tgz *TarGz) SourceDir(dir string) {
+	tgz.sourceDir = dir
+}
+
 // CompressFolder adds the given folder to the tarball archive
 func (tgz *TarGz) CompressFolder(dir string) (tmpfile string, err error) {
 	tgz.sourceDir = dir