diff --git a/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe.go b/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe.go
index d5164d43..8818d994 100644
--- a/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe.go
+++ b/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 package cli
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+
 	"github.com/aws/amazon-genomics-cli/internal/pkg/cli/clierror"
 	"github.com/aws/amazon-genomics-cli/internal/pkg/cli/context"
 	"github.com/aws/amazon-genomics-cli/internal/pkg/cli/format"
@@ -28,7 +30,17 @@ func newDescribeContextOpts(vars describeContextVars) (*describeContextOpts, err
 	}, nil
 }
 
-func (o *describeContextOpts) Validate() error {
+func (o *describeContextOpts) Validate(args []string) error {
+	if len(args) == 0 && o.ContextName == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("a context must be provided")
+	} else if len(args) == 1 && o.ContextName != "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("either the '-c' flag or a context must be provided, but not both")
+	}
+
+	if len(args) == 1 {
+		o.ContextName = args[0]
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -69,19 +81,16 @@ func BuildContextDescribeCommand() *cobra.Command {
 ` + DescribeOutput(types.Context{}),
 		Example: `
 /code agc context describe myCtx`,
-		Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
+		Args: cobra.ArbitraryArgs,
 		RunE: runCmdE(func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
-			if len(args) > 0 {
-				vars.ContextName = args[0]
-			}
 			opts, err := newDescribeContextOpts(vars)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			log.Info().Msgf("Describing context '%s'", opts.ContextName)
-			if err := opts.Validate(); err != nil {
+			if err := opts.Validate(args); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
+			log.Info().Msgf("Describing context '%s'", opts.ContextName)
 			ctx, err := opts.Execute()
 			if err != nil {
 				return clierror.New("context describe", vars, err)
@@ -90,5 +99,6 @@ func BuildContextDescribeCommand() *cobra.Command {
 			return nil
 		}),
 	}
+	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&vars.ContextName, contextFlag, contextFlagShort, "", deployContextDescription)
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe_test.go b/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe_test.go
index 4627b71b..a2cfd13f 100644
--- a/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe_test.go
+++ b/packages/cli/internal/pkg/cli/context_describe_test.go
@@ -71,3 +71,52 @@ func TestDescribeContextOpts_Execute(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestDescribeContextOpts_Validate(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := map[string]struct {
+		contextName     string
+		expectedContext string
+		contextNameArgs []string
+		expectedErr     error
+	}{
+		"valid single context name": {
+			contextName:     testContextName1,
+			expectedContext: testContextName1,
+			expectedErr:     nil,
+		},
+		"valid single context arg": {
+			contextNameArgs: []string{testContextName2},
+			expectedContext: testContextName2,
+			expectedErr:     nil,
+		},
+		"both context and context arg throws error": {
+			contextName:     testContextName1,
+			contextNameArgs: []string{testContextName2},
+			expectedErr:     fmt.Errorf("either the '-c' flag or a context must be provided, but not both"),
+		},
+		"no contexts supplied": {
+			expectedErr: fmt.Errorf("a context must be provided"),
+		},
+	}
+
+	for name, tt := range testCases {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			ctrl := gomock.NewController(t)
+			defer ctrl.Finish()
+			mockCtxManager := contextmocks.NewMockContextManager(ctrl)
+			opts := &describeContextOpts{
+				ctxManager:          mockCtxManager,
+				describeContextVars: describeContextVars{tt.contextName},
+			}
+
+			err := opts.Validate(tt.contextNameArgs)
+
+			if tt.expectedErr != nil {
+				assert.EqualError(t, err, tt.expectedErr.Error())
+			} else {
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+				assert.Equal(t, tt.expectedContext, opts.ContextName)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/site/content/en/docs/Tutorials/walkthrough.md b/site/content/en/docs/Tutorials/walkthrough.md
index 8a634899..1dd1acc2 100644
--- a/site/content/en/docs/Tutorials/walkthrough.md
+++ b/site/content/en/docs/Tutorials/walkthrough.md
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ agc context deploy --all
 Contexts have read-write access to a context specific prefix in the S3 bucket Amazon Genomics CLI creates during account activation. You can check this for the `myContext` context with:
 
 ```shell
-agc context describe -c myContext
+agc context describe myContext
 ```
 
 You should see something like: