diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6f1a0aadec987fd20ea30d71c5514889426c2d17..78e2d3e8472d14388f33688d8f855e168b6b8efb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ find_package(RedisPlusPlus 1.3.3 REQUIRED)
 # ##############################################################################
 
 # set compile flags
-add_compile_options("-Wall" "-Wextra" "$<$<CONFIG:RELEASE>:-O3>")
+add_compile_options("-Wall" "-Wextra" "-Werror" "$<$<CONFIG:RELEASE>:-O3>")
 if ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "Clang")
   add_compile_options("-stdlib=libc++")
 else ()
diff --git a/src/scord-ctl/rpc_handlers.cpp b/src/scord-ctl/rpc_handlers.cpp
index 74f349af3904ffe0f10a676fb0fb88f593043663..f53dc8a02bc48eb5142f71283824a74f91dd610b 100644
--- a/src/scord-ctl/rpc_handlers.cpp
+++ b/src/scord-ctl/rpc_handlers.cpp
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 static void
 ADM_ping(hg_handle_t h) {
 
-    hg_return_t ret;
+    [[maybe_unused]] hg_return_t ret;
 
     [[maybe_unused]] margo_instance_id mid = margo_hg_handle_get_instance(h);