diff --git a/cmd/helm/repository.go b/cmd/helm/repository.go
index 9ff75eb07..2084e753d 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/repository.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/repository.go
@@ -43,6 +43,14 @@ const repoDesc = `Helm repositories store Helm charts.
    For more details, use 'helm repo CMD -h'.
 `
 
+const addRepoDesc = `The add repository command is used to add a name a repository url to your
+   chart repository list. The repository url must begin with a valid protocoal
+   These include https, http, and gs.
+
+   A valid command might look like:
+   $ helm repo add charts gs://kubernetes-charts
+`
+
 func repoCommands() cli.Command {
 	return cli.Command{
 		Name:        "repository",
@@ -51,10 +59,11 @@ func repoCommands() cli.Command {
 		Description: repoDesc,
 		Subcommands: []cli.Command{
 			{
-				Name:      "add",
-				Usage:     "Add a chart repository to the remote manager.",
-				ArgsUsage: "[NAME] [REPOSITORY_URL]",
-				Action:    func(c *cli.Context) { run(c, addRepo) },
+				Name:        "add",
+				Usage:       "Add a chart repository to the remote manager.",
+				Description: addRepoDesc,
+				ArgsUsage:   "[NAME] [REPOSITORY_URL]",
+				Action:      func(c *cli.Context) { run(c, addRepo) },
 			},
 			{
 				Name:      "list",
@@ -66,7 +75,7 @@ func repoCommands() cli.Command {
 				Name:      "remove",
 				Aliases:   []string{"rm"},
 				Usage:     "Remove a chart repository from the remote manager.",
-				ArgsUsage: "REPOSITORY_URL",
+				ArgsUsage: "REPOSITORY_NAME",
 				Action:    func(c *cli.Context) { run(c, removeRepo) },
 			},
 		},
@@ -83,7 +92,6 @@ func addRepo(c *cli.Context) error {
 	payload, _ := json.Marshal(repo.Repo{URL: repoURL, Name: name})
 	msg := ""
 	if _, err := NewClient(c).Post(chartRepoPath, payload, &msg); err != nil {
-		//TODO: Return more specific errors to the user
 		return err
 	}
 	format.Info(name + " has been added to your chart repositories!")
diff --git a/cmd/manager/chartrepos.go b/cmd/manager/chartrepos.go
index 64ae8ddd8..2c056e4dd 100644
--- a/cmd/manager/chartrepos.go
+++ b/cmd/manager/chartrepos.go
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ func addChartRepoHandlerFunc(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, c *router.C
 		httputil.BadRequest(w, r, err)
 		return nil
 	}
+	if err := repo.ValidateRepoURL(cr.URL); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
 	if err := c.Manager.AddRepo(cr); err != nil {
 		httputil.BadRequest(w, r, err)
diff --git a/pkg/repo/repo.go b/pkg/repo/repo.go
index ce2a29cb3..ce3e9c3c9 100644
--- a/pkg/repo/repo.go
+++ b/pkg/repo/repo.go
@@ -17,10 +17,16 @@ limitations under the License.
 package repo
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 )
 
+// URL is the url pattern used to check if a given repo url is valid
+const URL string = `^((http|gs|https?):\/\/)?(\S+(:\S*)?@)?((([1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[01]\d|22[0-3])(\.(1?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])){2}(?:\.([0-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-4]))|(([a-zA-Z0-9]+([-\.][a-zA-Z0-9]+)*)|((www\.)?))?(([a-zA-Z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}0-9]+-?-?)*[a-zA-Z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}0-9]+)(?:\.([a-zA-Z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}]{2,}))?))(:(\d{1,5}))?((\/|\?|#)[^\s]*)?$`
+
 // NewRepo takes params and returns a IRepo
 func NewRepo(URL, credentialName, repoName, repoFormat, repoType string) (IRepo, error) {
 	return newRepo(URL, credentialName, repoName, ERepoFormat(repoFormat), ERepoType(repoType))
@@ -113,3 +119,26 @@ func validateRepo(tr IRepo, wantURL, wantCredentialName string, wantFormat ERepo
 
 	return nil
 }
+
+// ValidateRepoURL checks if the string is a valid URL.
+// This was inspired by the IsURL function in govalidator https://github.com/asaskevich/govalidator
+func ValidateRepoURL(str string) error {
+	err := errors.New("Invalid Repository URL")
+	if str == "" || len(str) >= 2083 || len(str) <= 3 || strings.HasPrefix(str, ".") {
+		return err
+	}
+	u, err := url.Parse(str)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(u.Host, ".") {
+		return err
+	}
+	if u.Host == "" && (u.Path != "" && !strings.Contains(u.Path, ".")) {
+		return err
+	}
+	if !regexp.MustCompile(URL).MatchString(str) {
+		return err
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/repo/repo_test.go b/pkg/repo/repo_test.go
index 1415f7332..9bce229e3 100644
--- a/pkg/repo/repo_test.go
+++ b/pkg/repo/repo_test.go
@@ -65,3 +65,26 @@ func TestInvalidRepoFormat(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected error did not occur for invalid format")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestValidateRepoURL(t *testing.T) {
+	validURLs := []string{
+		"https://host/bucket",
+		"http://host/bucket",
+		"gs://bucket-name",
+	}
+	invalidURLs := []string{"charts"}
+
+	for _, url := range validURLs {
+		err := ValidateRepoURL(url)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Expected repo url: %v to be valid but threw an error")
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, url := range invalidURLs {
+		err := ValidateRepoURL(url)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Expected repo url: %v to be invalid but did not throw an error")
+		}
+	}
+}