diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala/mdoc/internal/cli/Settings.scala b/cli/src/main/scala/mdoc/internal/cli/Settings.scala
index bc3431744..18714d015 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala/mdoc/internal/cli/Settings.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala/mdoc/internal/cli/Settings.scala
@@ -247,6 +247,19 @@ case class Settings(
       cwd = dir
     )
   }
+
+  def withCliArgs(args: List[String]): Configured[Settings] = {
+    Conf.parseCliArgs[Settings](args).andThen { conf =>
+      val withCwd = conf.get[String]("cwd").map { x =>
+        implicit val defaultCwd: AbsolutePath = this.cwd
+        withWorkingDirectory(AbsolutePath(x))
+      }.getOrElse(this)
+      val base = conf.get[String]("propertyFileName")
+        .map(withCwd.withPropertiesFromFile).getOrElse(withCwd)
+      conf.as[Settings](Settings.decoder(base)).map(_.addSite(base.site))
+    }
+  }
+
 }
 
 object Settings { // extends MetaconfigScalametaImplicits with Decoders with SettingsGeneric {
@@ -306,20 +319,8 @@ object Settings { // extends MetaconfigScalametaImplicits with Decoders with Set
     generic.deriveDecoder[Settings](base)
   }
 
-  def fromCliArgs(args: List[String], workingDirectory: => AbsolutePath): Configured[Settings] = {
-    Conf
-      .parseCliArgs[Settings](args)
-      .andThen { conf =>
-        implicit val defaultCwd: AbsolutePath = workingDirectory
-        val base = Settings(
-          conf.get[String]("cwd").map(AbsolutePath(_)).getOrElse(defaultCwd),
-          conf.get[String]("propertyFileName").getOrElse("mdoc.properties")
-        )
-        conf
-          .as[Settings](decoder(base))
-          .map(_.addSite(base.site))
-      }
-  }
+  def fromCliArgs(args: List[String], workingDirectory: AbsolutePath): Configured[Settings] =
+    Settings(workingDirectory, "mdoc.properties").withCliArgs(args)
 
   def fromCliArgs(args: List[String], workingDirectory: Path): Configured[Settings] =
     fromCliArgs(args, AbsolutePath(workingDirectory))
diff --git a/mdoc/src/main/scala/mdoc/MainSettings.scala b/mdoc/src/main/scala/mdoc/MainSettings.scala
index 774ebbb8c..7614b185f 100644
--- a/mdoc/src/main/scala/mdoc/MainSettings.scala
+++ b/mdoc/src/main/scala/mdoc/MainSettings.scala
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ final class MainSettings private (
   def withArgs(args: List[String]): MainSettings = {
     if (args.isEmpty) this
     else {
-      Settings.fromCliArgs(args, settings.cwd.toNIO) match {
+      settings.withCliArgs(args) match {
         case Configured.Ok(newSettings) =>
-          copy(settings = newSettings)
+          if (newSettings eq settings) this else copy(settings = newSettings)
         case Configured.NotOk(error) =>
           throw new IllegalArgumentException(error.toString())
       }