diff --git a/src/tuner/nccl_ofi_tuner.c b/src/tuner/nccl_ofi_tuner.c
index 2f5540899..a343f5191 100644
--- a/src/tuner/nccl_ofi_tuner.c
+++ b/src/tuner/nccl_ofi_tuner.c
@@ -21,7 +21,12 @@ ncclResult_t nccl_ofi_tuner_init(size_t nRanks, size_t nNodes, ncclDebugLogger_t
 	 */
 	if (getenv("NCCL_ALGO") || getenv("NCCL_PROTO")) {
 		NCCL_OFI_WARN("The tuner plugin can not be loaded when explicitly choosing an algorithm or protocol with NCCL_ALGO/NCCL_PROTO");
-		return ncclInvalidUsage;
+		// FIXME: "ncclInvalidUsage should be returned when the error is
+		// most likely a user error" per nccl docs, which arguably makes
+		// it a better return code here than ncclInvalidArgument, but
+		// the former is currently not vended in ext-net headers, so
+		// we're returning ncclInvalidArgument instead.
+		return ncclInvalidArgument;
 	}
 
 	struct nccl_ofi_tuner_model_params params = {