diff --git a/commands/deploy.go b/commands/deploy.go
index 82127adf4c7..4f850201ede 100644
--- a/commands/deploy.go
+++ b/commands/deploy.go
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ documentation.
 			return deployer.Deploy(ctx)
 		},
 		withc: func(cmd *cobra.Command, r *rootCommand) {
+			// Note that the default values for the non-zero values are set in deploy/deployConfig.go.
+			// The flag values will only be used if set by the user.
 			cmd.Flags().String("target", "", "target deployment from deployments section in config file; defaults to the first one")
 			cmd.Flags().Bool("confirm", false, "ask for confirmation before making changes to the target")
 			cmd.Flags().Bool("dryRun", false, "dry run")
diff --git a/deploy/deployConfig.go b/deploy/deployConfig.go
index 3f54651711a..37d10911e39 100644
--- a/deploy/deployConfig.go
+++ b/deploy/deployConfig.go
@@ -127,11 +127,16 @@ func (m *Matcher) Matches(path string) bool {
 	return m.re.MatchString(path)
 }
 
+var defaultConfig = DeployConfig{
+	Workers:       10,
+	InvalidateCDN: true,
+	MaxDeletes:    256,
+}
+
 // DecodeConfig creates a config from a given Hugo configuration.
 func DecodeConfig(cfg config.Provider) (DeployConfig, error) {
-	var (
-		dcfg DeployConfig
-	)
+
+	dcfg := defaultConfig
 
 	if !cfg.IsSet(deploymentConfigKey) {
 		return dcfg, nil
diff --git a/testscripts/commands/deploy.txt b/testscripts/commands/deploy.txt
index b21bf0b38e7..0afe1fc44ef 100644
--- a/testscripts/commands/deploy.txt
+++ b/testscripts/commands/deploy.txt
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 hugo deploy -h
 stdout 'Deploy your site to a Cloud provider\.'
 mkdir mybucket
-hugo deploy --target mydeployment
+hugo deploy --target mydeployment --invalidateCDN=false
 grep 'hello' mybucket/index.html
 replace  public/index.html 'hello' 'changed'
-hugo deploy --target mydeployment --invalidateCDN --dryRun
+hugo deploy --target mydeployment --dryRun
 stdout 'Would upload: index.html'
 stdout 'Would invalidate CloudFront CDN with ID foobar'
 -- hugo.toml --