diff --git a/org-roam.el b/org-roam.el
index 1478416..62d8356 100644
--- a/org-roam.el
+++ b/org-roam.el
@@ -382,13 +382,17 @@ current buffer is used."
 
 (defun org-roam--extract-ref ()
   "Extract the ref from current buffer and return the type and the key of the ref."
-  (if-let ((ref (cdr (assoc "ROAM_KEY" (org-roam--extract-global-props '("ROAM_KEY"))))))
-      (let* ((type (org-roam--ref-type ref))
-             (key (cond ((string= "cite" type)
-                         (s-chop-prefix (org-roam--cite-prefix ref) ref))
-                        (t ref))))
-        (cons type key))
-    nil))
+  (pcase (cdr (assoc "ROAM_KEY"
+                     (org-roam--extract-global-props '("ROAM_KEY"))))
+    ('nil nil)
+    ((pred string-empty-p)
+     (user-error "ROAM_KEY cannot be empty"))
+    (ref
+     (let* ((type (org-roam--ref-type ref))
+            (key (cond ((string= "cite" type)
+                        (s-chop-prefix (org-roam--cite-prefix ref) ref))
+                       (t ref))))
+       (cons type key)))))
 
 (defun org-roam--ref-type (ref)
   "Determine the type of the REF from the prefix."