diff --git a/cmd/frostfs-cli/internal/commonflags/flags.go b/cmd/frostfs-cli/internal/commonflags/flags.go
index 5049dc3b1..6915ef42b 100644
--- a/cmd/frostfs-cli/internal/commonflags/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/frostfs-cli/internal/commonflags/flags.go
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ import (
 // values and their usage descriptions.
 const (
 	GenerateKey          = "generate-key"
-	generateKeyShorthand = "g"
-	generateKeyDefault   = false
-	generateKeyUsage     = "Generate new private key"
+	GenerateKeyShorthand = "g"
+	GenerateKeyDefault   = false
+	GenerateKeyUsage     = "Generate new private key"
 
 	WalletPath          = "wallet"
 	WalletPathShorthand = "w"
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func Init(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 func InitWithoutRPC(cmd *cobra.Command) {
 	ff := cmd.Flags()
 
-	ff.BoolP(GenerateKey, generateKeyShorthand, generateKeyDefault, generateKeyUsage)
+	ff.BoolP(GenerateKey, GenerateKeyShorthand, GenerateKeyDefault, GenerateKeyUsage)
 	ff.StringP(WalletPath, WalletPathShorthand, WalletPathDefault, WalletPathUsage)
 	ff.StringP(Account, AccountShorthand, AccountDefault, AccountUsage)
 }
diff --git a/cmd/frostfs-cli/modules/container/list.go b/cmd/frostfs-cli/modules/container/list.go
index 8f5db49df..a1410d7a0 100644
--- a/cmd/frostfs-cli/modules/container/list.go
+++ b/cmd/frostfs-cli/modules/container/list.go
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ const (
 	flagListPrintAttr      = "with-attr"
 	flagListContainerOwner = "owner"
 	flagListName           = "name"
+
+	generateKeyContainerUsage = commonflags.GenerateKeyUsage + ", should be used with --owner flag"
 )
 
 // flag vars of list command.
@@ -34,6 +36,11 @@ var listContainersCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) {
 		var idUser user.ID
 
+		generateKey, _ := cmd.Flags().GetBool(commonflags.GenerateKey)
+		if flagVarListContainerOwner == "" && generateKey {
+			cmd.PrintErrln("WARN: using -g without --owner - output will be empty")
+		}
+
 		key := key.GetOrGenerate(cmd)
 
 		if flagVarListContainerOwner == "" {
@@ -104,4 +111,5 @@ func initContainerListContainersCmd() {
 	flags.BoolVar(&flagVarListPrintAttr, flagListPrintAttr, false,
 		"Request and print attributes of each container",
 	)
+	flags.Lookup(commonflags.GenerateKey).Usage = generateKeyContainerUsage
 }