diff --git a/cmd/runitcmd/export.go b/cmd/runitcmd/export.go
index d307d0f..8199b53 100644
--- a/cmd/runitcmd/export.go
+++ b/cmd/runitcmd/export.go
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@ func initExport(app *Application) cli.Command {
 	description := "export service"
 	usage := "export service"
 
-	flags := []cli.Flag{}
+	flags := []cli.Flag{
+		cli.BoolFlag{
+			Name:  "forgiving, f",
+			Usage: "be forgiving and try to parse the runit files",
+		},
+	}
 
 	cmd := cli.Command{
 		Name:        "export",
@@ -23,13 +28,22 @@ func initExport(app *Application) cli.Command {
 }
 
 func (app *Application) Export(c *cli.Context) {
+	forgiving := c.Bool("forgiving")
+
 	for _, service := range app.MatchingServices(c) {
 
 		cfg, err := app.Runit.Export(service.Name)
-		if err != nil {
+		if forgiving == false && err != nil {
 			log.Warnf("export %s: %s", service.Name, err)
 			continue
 		}
+		if forgiving && err != nil {
+			cfg, err = app.Runit.LoadFromDisk(service.Name)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Warnf("load service config %s: %s", service.Name, err)
+				continue
+			}
+		}
 
 		destfile := filepath.Join("./", service.Name+".yaml")
 		err = cfg.SaveFile(destfile)
diff --git a/runit/export.go b/runit/export.go
index b7020f6..262435c 100644
--- a/runit/export.go
+++ b/runit/export.go
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 package runit
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 func (runit *Runit) Export(name string) (*ServiceConfig, error) {
@@ -22,3 +26,41 @@ func (runit *Runit) Export(name string) (*ServiceConfig, error) {
 	return cfg, nil
 
 }
+
+// do the best we can loading service config from disk (for when we do not have a service.yaml file)
+// for things we can't parse we will fill in sane defaults
+func (runit *Runit) LoadFromDisk(name string) (*ServiceConfig, error) {
+	sv := runit.GetService(name)
+	if sv.Exists() == false {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("not found")
+	}
+	cfg := &ServiceConfig{
+		Name:      name,
+		Activated: true,
+	}
+
+	// load the service/run file
+	runfile := filepath.Join(sv.ServiceDir, "run")
+	if f, err := os.Open(runfile); err == nil {
+		fin := bufio.NewReader(f)
+		for {
+			line, err := fin.ReadBytes('\n')
+			if err == io.EOF {
+				break
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Warnf("%s", err)
+				break
+			}
+			sline := string(line)
+			if strings.HasPrefix(sline, "exec ") {
+				cfg.Exec = sline[5:]
+				log.Infof("found exec %s", cfg.Exec)
+			}
+		}
+		f.Close()
+
+	}
+
+	return cfg, nil
+}