diff --git a/src/caoscrawler/crawl.py b/src/caoscrawler/crawl.py
index e9cf584cf1b930363a7f8c12cefe95371ef20559..18ecda75e995ebc6f6cdff9e4047c1453b3c2f2d 100644
--- a/src/caoscrawler/crawl.py
+++ b/src/caoscrawler/crawl.py
@@ -1288,7 +1288,7 @@ def crawler_main(crawled_directory_path: str,
     except ConverterValidationError as err:
         print(err)
         return 1
-    if provenance_file is not None:
+    if provenance_file is not None and debug:
         crawler.save_debug_data(provenance_file)
 
     if identifiables_definition_file is not None: