diff --git a/lua/dep.lua b/lua/dep.lua
index d5c1d1b..2a90ad1 100644
--- a/lua/dep.lua
+++ b/lua/dep.lua
@@ -42,12 +42,10 @@ function M.registertree(speclist, overrides)
       disable = over.disable or spec.disable
     }
 
-    local ok = packager:new(spec, overrides)
-
-    -- if erroring print out the spec and the error
-    if not ok then
-      error(string.format("(spec=%s)", vim.inspect(spec)))
-    end
+    -- While a package can fail to load we just don't care, it will work itself
+    -- out. The goal is to make sure every plugin that can load does load, not
+    -- keep working plugins from loading because an unrelated one doesn't load.
+    packager:new(spec, overrides)
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/lua/dep/package.lua b/lua/dep/package.lua
index 1ee712c..9112cbc 100644
--- a/lua/dep/package.lua
+++ b/lua/dep/package.lua
@@ -55,6 +55,17 @@ local root
 ---@type package[]
 local packages = {}
 
+--- check if a string seems to be a url
+---@param url string the "url" to check
+---@return boolean is_url
+local function is_url(url)
+  if url:sub(1, 8) == "https://" or
+    url:sub(1, 7) == "http://" then
+    return true
+  end
+  return false
+end
+
 --- check a spec to see if it's correct
 ---@param spec spec|string the specification to check
 ---@return spec|false spec if the spec is ok or false
@@ -117,6 +128,10 @@ local function check_spec(spec)
     if type(spec.url) ~= "string" then
       logger:log("spec", "spec.url must be a string in %s", spec[1])
       return false
+    elseif not is_url(spec.url) then -- more strict checking on urls
+      logger:log("spec", "spec.url must be a properly formatted url in %s",
+        spec[1])
+      return false
     end
   end
 
@@ -124,6 +139,9 @@ local function check_spec(spec)
     if type(spec.path) ~= "string" then
       logger:log("spec", "spec.path must be a string in %s", spec[1])
       return false
+    elseif not vim.fn.isdirectory(spec.path) then
+      logger:log("spec", "spec.path must be a valid directory in %s", spec[1])
+      return false
     end
   end