diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 681b87a7e15..6066af741ab 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -332,12 +332,12 @@ response = client.post(
 print(response.headers.get("x-foo"))
 ```
 
-#### Undocumented params
+#### Undocumented request params
 
 If you want to explicitly send an extra param, you can do so with the `extra_query`, `extra_body`, and `extra_headers` request
 options.
 
-#### Undocumented properties
+#### Undocumented response properties
 
 To access undocumented response properties, you can access the extra fields like `response.unknown_prop`. You
 can also get all the extra fields on the Pydantic model as a dict with
diff --git a/src/cloudflare/_base_client.py b/src/cloudflare/_base_client.py
index df68237a10f..21c336d5fe8 100644
--- a/src/cloudflare/_base_client.py
+++ b/src/cloudflare/_base_client.py
@@ -360,6 +360,11 @@ def __init__(
         self._strict_response_validation = _strict_response_validation
         self._idempotency_header = None
 
+        if max_retries is None:  # pyright: ignore[reportUnnecessaryComparison]
+            raise TypeError(
+                "max_retries cannot be None. If you want to disable retries, pass `0`; if you want unlimited retries, pass `math.inf` or a very high number; if you want the default behavior, pass `cloudflare.DEFAULT_MAX_RETRIES`"
+            )
+
     def _enforce_trailing_slash(self, url: URL) -> URL:
         if url.raw_path.endswith(b"/"):
             return url
diff --git a/tests/test_client.py b/tests/test_client.py
index d2bb96ba3ed..9b15628f2bd 100644
--- a/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client.py
@@ -727,6 +727,16 @@ class Model(BaseModel):
 
         assert isinstance(exc.value.__cause__, ValidationError)
 
+    def test_client_max_retries_validation(self) -> None:
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=r"max_retries cannot be None"):
+            Cloudflare(
+                base_url=base_url,
+                api_key=api_key,
+                api_email=api_email,
+                _strict_response_validation=True,
+                max_retries=cast(Any, None),
+            )
+
     @pytest.mark.respx(base_url=base_url)
     def test_received_text_for_expected_json(self, respx_mock: MockRouter) -> None:
         class Model(BaseModel):
@@ -1493,6 +1503,16 @@ class Model(BaseModel):
 
         assert isinstance(exc.value.__cause__, ValidationError)
 
+    async def test_client_max_retries_validation(self) -> None:
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=r"max_retries cannot be None"):
+            AsyncCloudflare(
+                base_url=base_url,
+                api_key=api_key,
+                api_email=api_email,
+                _strict_response_validation=True,
+                max_retries=cast(Any, None),
+            )
+
     @pytest.mark.respx(base_url=base_url)
     @pytest.mark.asyncio
     async def test_received_text_for_expected_json(self, respx_mock: MockRouter) -> None: