diff --git a/lua/grug-far/actions/replace.lua b/lua/grug-far/actions/replace.lua
index a7c6914d..3f37c6bd 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/actions/replace.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/actions/replace.lua
@@ -159,9 +159,11 @@ local function replace(params)
     inputs = context.state.inputs,
     options = context.options,
     on_fetch_chunk = reportMatchingFilesUpdate,
-    on_finish = vim.schedule_wrap(function(status, errorMessage, files)
+    on_finish = vim.schedule_wrap(function(status, errorMessage, files, blacklistedArgs)
       if not status then
-        on_finish_all(nil, nil, 'replace cannot work due to improper flags! (blacklisted because of undesirable results)')
+        on_finish_all(nil, nil,
+          blacklistedArgs and 'replace cannot work with flags: ' .. vim.fn.join(blacklistedArgs, ', ') or
+          'replace aborted!')
         return
       elseif status == 'error' then
         on_finish_all(status, errorMessage)
diff --git a/lua/grug-far/rg/blacklistedReplaceFlags.lua b/lua/grug-far/rg/blacklistedReplaceFlags.lua
index 912f3adc..fc308e4e 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/rg/blacklistedReplaceFlags.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/rg/blacklistedReplaceFlags.lua
@@ -1,15 +1,34 @@
--- TODO (sbadragan): might need to disable some flags, like:
--- --no-include-zero --no-byte-offset
--- --hyperlink-format=none
--- --max-columns=0
--- --no-max-columns-preview --no-trim
--- blacklist: --help --quiet
--- Hmmm, there are just too many things that could completely screw it up ... I think we need a whitelist of useful
--- flags that we allow the user to pass, otherwise replacing would not work
+-- those are flags that would result in unexpected output when generating replaced file contents
 return {
   '--pre',
   '--pre-glob',
-  '--search-zip', '-z',
-
-  '--help'
+  '-z', '--search-zip',
+  '-m', '--max-count',
+  '--null-data',
+  '--stop-on-nonmatch',
+  '-a', '--text',
+  '--binary',
+  ' -L', '--follow',
+  '-b', '--byte-offset',
+  '--line-buffered',
+  '-M', '--max-columns',
+  '--max-columns-preview',
+  '-0', '--null',
+  '-o', '--only-matching',
+  '-q', '--quiet',
+  '--trim',
+  '--vimgrep',
+  '-c', '--count',
+  '--count-matches',
+  '--json',
+  '--debug',
+  '--no-ignore-messages',
+  '--stats',
+  '--trace',
+  '--files',
+  '--generate',
+  '--pcre2-version',
+  '--type-list',
+  '-V', '--version',
+  '-h', '--help'
 }
diff --git a/lua/grug-far/rg/fetchFilesWithMatches.lua b/lua/grug-far/rg/fetchFilesWithMatches.lua
index e1b144f5..d1d7da3a 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/rg/fetchFilesWithMatches.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/rg/fetchFilesWithMatches.lua
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ local fetchWithRg = require('grug-far/rg/fetchWithRg')
 local function fetchFilesWithMatches(params)
   local filesWithMatches = {}
 
-  local args = getArgs(params.inputs, params.options, {
-    '--files-with-matches'
+  local args, blacklistedArgs = getArgs(params.inputs, params.options, {
+    '--files-with-matches',
+    '--color=never',
   }, blacklistedReplaceFlags)
 
   return fetchWithRg({
@@ -21,7 +22,7 @@ local function fetchFilesWithMatches(params)
       params.on_fetch_chunk(lines)
     end,
     on_finish = function(status, errorMessage)
-      params.on_finish(status, errorMessage, filesWithMatches)
+      params.on_finish(status, errorMessage, filesWithMatches, blacklistedArgs)
     end
   })
 end
diff --git a/lua/grug-far/rg/getArgs.lua b/lua/grug-far/rg/getArgs.lua
index a98f2cfe..940c3695 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/rg/getArgs.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/rg/getArgs.lua
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-local function isProperFlag(arg)
-  return vim.startswith(arg, '-') and arg ~= '--'
-end
+-- TODO (sbadragan): check that sigkill actually works
 
 local function isBlacklistedFlag(flag, blacklistedFlags)
   if not blacklistedFlags then
@@ -25,18 +23,14 @@ local function getArgs(inputs, options, extraArgs, blacklistedFlags)
 
   args = {}
 
-  -- user overridable args
-  table.insert(args, '--line-number')
-  table.insert(args, '--column')
-
   -- user overrides
+  local blacklisted = {}
   local extraUserArgs = options.extraRgArgs and vim.trim(options.extraRgArgs) or ''
   if #extraUserArgs > 0 then
     for arg in string.gmatch(extraUserArgs, "%S+") do
       if isBlacklistedFlag(arg, blacklistedFlags) then
-        return nil
-      end
-      if isProperFlag(arg) then
+        table.insert(blacklisted, arg)
+      else
         table.insert(args, arg)
       end
     end
@@ -45,16 +39,24 @@ local function getArgs(inputs, options, extraArgs, blacklistedFlags)
   if #inputs.flags > 0 then
     for flag in string.gmatch(inputs.flags, "%S+") do
       if isBlacklistedFlag(flag, blacklistedFlags) then
-        return nil
-      end
-      if isProperFlag(flag) then
+        table.insert(blacklisted, flag)
+      else
         table.insert(args, flag)
       end
     end
   end
 
+  if #blacklisted > 0 then
+    return nil, blacklisted
+  end
+
   -- required args
+  table.insert(args, '--line-number')
   table.insert(args, '--heading')
+  table.insert(args, '--column')
+  table.insert(args, '--field-match-separator=:')
+  table.insert(args, '--hyperlink-format=none')
+  table.insert(args, '--block-buffered')
 
   if #inputs.replacement > 0 then
     table.insert(args, '--replace=' .. inputs.replacement)
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ local function getArgs(inputs, options, extraArgs, blacklistedFlags)
 
   table.insert(args, '--regexp=' .. inputs.search)
 
-  return args
+  return args, nil
 end
 
 return getArgs