diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index f5e4b49..a6416e6 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -191,11 +191,11 @@ get_desc_config_flag <- function(path, name) {
     return(FALSE)
   }
 
-  stop(cli::format_error(
+  stop(cli::format_error(c(
     "The {.code {name}} entry in {.path DESCRIPTION} must be {.code TRUE}
      or {.code FALSE}.",
-    "i" = "It is {.val {val}}."
-  ))
+    i = "It is {.val {val}}."
+  )))
 }
 
 mkdirp <- function(path, mode = NULL) {
diff --git a/tests/testthat/_snaps/utils.md b/tests/testthat/_snaps/utils.md
index 1bbab1a..efab4c3 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/_snaps/utils.md
+++ b/tests/testthat/_snaps/utils.md
@@ -41,3 +41,12 @@
       ! Invalid `PKG_BUILD_EXTRA_FLAGS` environment variable.
       i Must be one of `true`, `false` or `missing`.
 
+# get_desc_config_flag errors on invalid DESCRIPTION value
+
+    Code
+      get_desc_config_flag(path, "never-clean")
+    Condition
+      Error in `get_desc_config_flag()`:
+      ! The `Config/build/never-clean` entry in 'DESCRIPTION' must be `TRUE` or `FALSE`.
+      i It is "maybe".
+
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-utils.R b/tests/testthat/test-utils.R
index 66550af..5b35099 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-utils.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-utils.R
@@ -94,3 +94,14 @@ test_that("should_add_compiler_flags errors", {
   withr::local_envvar(PKG_BUILD_EXTRA_FLAGS = "foo")
   expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, should_add_compiler_flags())
 })
+
+test_that("get_desc_config_flag errors on invalid DESCRIPTION value", {
+  path <- withr::local_tempfile(
+    lines = c(
+      "Package: test",
+      "Version: 1.0",
+      "Config/build/never-clean: maybe"
+    )
+  )
+  expect_snapshot(error = TRUE, get_desc_config_flag(path, "never-clean"))
+})