[jessaustin]

So you want the script to [EDIT:] exit with an error code rather than hanging around waiting for input? That seems possible, with some sort of generous (e.g. 5 minutes) exit timer on the prompt. Would that satisfy your concerns? If not, what else is needed here?

ps. the verb "considered" is a good sign that this is an opinion, and would be even in a more "active" sentence.

[boomlinde]

First of all I think "crash" is the wrong word here. Unix tools commonly exit gracefully with an error code when the argument requirements are not met. Often with an informative error message.

A five minute pause sounds ridiculous to me, absolutely not user friendly from either end. It's jus unpredictable and time wasting. If you absolutely must, you can use 'isatty' to check whether stdin/stdout/stderr are connected to a terminal and act accordingly.

There is some merit to having consistent and predictable behavior regardless of where and by whom the tool is invoked, though.

[jessaustin]

Checking for the tty is discussed in TFA and in sibling comments.