diff --git a/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb b/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb
index 523eb487..d28de3c4 100644
--- a/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb
+++ b/lib/kamal/cli/app.rb
@@ -135,11 +135,9 @@ class Kamal::Cli::App < Kamal::Cli::Base
   desc "stale_containers", "Detect app stale containers"
   option :stop, aliases: "-s", type: :boolean, default: false, desc: "Stop the stale containers found"
   def stale_containers
-    mutating do
-      stop = options[:stop]
-
-      cli = self
+    stop = options[:stop]
 
+    mutating(mutates: stop) do
       on(KAMAL.hosts) do |host|
         roles = KAMAL.roles_on(host)
 
diff --git a/lib/kamal/cli/base.rb b/lib/kamal/cli/base.rb
index 206f63a4..1cee5484 100644
--- a/lib/kamal/cli/base.rb
+++ b/lib/kamal/cli/base.rb
@@ -79,8 +79,8 @@ module Kamal::Cli
         puts "  Finished all in #{sprintf("%.1f seconds", runtime)}"
       end
 
-      def mutating
-        return yield if KAMAL.holding_lock?
+      def mutating(mutates: true)
+        return yield if KAMAL.holding_lock? || !mutates
 
         run_hook "pre-connect"