diff --git a/src/pytom_tm/entry_points.py b/src/pytom_tm/entry_points.py
index cfada29..a493f60 100644
--- a/src/pytom_tm/entry_points.py
+++ b/src/pytom_tm/entry_points.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
     ParseDoseFile,
     ParseDefocus,
     BetweenZeroAndOne,
+    ParseGPUIndices,
 )
 from pytom_tm.tmjob import load_json_to_tmjob
 from os import urandom
@@ -902,6 +903,7 @@ def match_template(argv=None):
         "--gpu-ids",
         nargs="+",
         type=int,
+        action=ParseGPUIndices,
         required=True,
         help="GPU indices to run the program on.",
     )
diff --git a/src/pytom_tm/io.py b/src/pytom_tm/io.py
index d57825c..22a2cdc 100644
--- a/src/pytom_tm/io.py
+++ b/src/pytom_tm/io.py
@@ -150,6 +150,33 @@ def __call__(
             parser.error("{0} can only take one or two arguments".format(option_string))
 
 
+class ParseGPUIndices(argparse.Action):
+    """argparse.Action subclass to parse gpu indices. The input can either be an int or
+    a list of ints that specify the gpu indices to be used.
+    """
+
+    def __call__(
+        self,
+        parser,
+        namespace,
+        values: Union[list[int, ...], int],
+        option_string: Optional[str] = None,
+    ):
+        import cupy
+
+        max_value = cupy.cuda.runtime.getDeviceCount()
+        if isinstance(values, int):
+            values = [values]
+        for val in values:
+            if val < 0 or val >= max_value:
+                parser.error(
+                    f"{option_string} all gpu indices should be between 0 "
+                    "and {max_value-1}"
+                )
+
+        setattr(namespace, self.dest, values)
+
+
 class ParseDoseFile(argparse.Action):
     """argparse.Action subclass to parse a txt file contain information on accumulated
     dose per tilt."""