diff --git a/packages/codemods/src/action.ts b/packages/codemods/src/action.ts
index 0f701f6aeb..8d12902077 100644
--- a/packages/codemods/src/action.ts
+++ b/packages/codemods/src/action.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export function createCodemodAction(name: string) {
       '--transform',
       transformPath,
       '--ignore-pattern=**/node_modules/**',
-      ...cmd.args,
+      ...(cmd.args.length ? cmd.args : ['.']),
     ];
 
     console.log(`Running jscodeshift with these arguments: ${args.join(' ')}`);
diff --git a/packages/codemods/src/index.ts b/packages/codemods/src/index.ts
index 86ba4e5bb3..967c906477 100644
--- a/packages/codemods/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/codemods/src/index.ts
@@ -25,12 +25,14 @@ async function main(argv: string[]) {
   program.name('backstage-codemods').version(version);
 
   const applyCommand = program
-    .command('apply <codemod> <target-dirs...>')
-    .description('Apply a codemod to target directories');
+    .command('apply <codemod> [<target-dirs...>]')
+    .description(
+      'Apply a codemod to target directories, defaulting to the current directory',
+    );
 
   for (const codemod of codemods) {
     applyCommand
-      .command(`${codemod.name} <target-dirs...>`)
+      .command(`${codemod.name} [<target-dirs...>]`)
       .description(codemod.description)
       .option('-d, --dry', 'Dry run, no changes written to files')
       .action(createCodemodAction(codemod.name));