diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/network/eos/eos_eapi.py b/lib/ansible/modules/network/eos/eos_eapi.py
index a526b2729be..36af7ea6c83 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/network/eos/eos_eapi.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/network/eos/eos_eapi.py
@@ -187,6 +187,13 @@ from ansible.module_utils.eos import run_commands, load_config
 from ansible.module_utils.six import iteritems
 from ansible.module_utils.eos import eos_argument_spec, check_args
 
+def check_transport(module):
+    transport = module.params['transport']
+    provider_transport = (module.params['provider'] or {}).get('transport')
+
+    if 'eapi' in (transport, provider_transport):
+        module.fail_json(msg='eos_eapi module is only supported over cli transport')
+
 def validate_http_port(value, module):
     if not 1 <= value <= 65535:
         module.fail_json(msg='http_port must be between 1 and 65535')
@@ -372,6 +379,7 @@ def main():
     module = AnsibleModule(argument_spec=argument_spec,
                            supports_check_mode=True)
 
+    check_transport(module)
 
     result = {'changed': False}
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/eos_eapi/tests/cli/badtransport.1 b/test/integration/targets/eos_eapi/tests/cli/badtransport.1
deleted file mode 100644
index 32b51555d7f..00000000000
--- a/test/integration/targets/eos_eapi/tests/cli/badtransport.1
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-- debug: msg="START CLI/BADTRANSPORT.YAML"
-
-- name: Expect transport other than cli to fail 
-  eos_eapi:
-      provider: "{{ eapi }}"
-  register: eos_eapi_output
-  connection: local
-  ignore_errors: yes
-
-- debug: var=eos_eapi_output
-  when: debug
-
-- assert:
-      that: eos_eapi_output.failed and eos_eapi_output.msg |search('transport')
-
-- debug: msg="START CLI/BADTRANSPORT.YAML"
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/eos_eapi/tests/cli/badtransport.yaml b/test/integration/targets/eos_eapi/tests/cli/badtransport.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..73c812ce590
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/eos_eapi/tests/cli/badtransport.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+- debug: msg="START CLI/BADTRANSPORT.YAML"
+
+- name: Expect transport other than cli to fail
+  eos_eapi:
+    provider: "{{ eapi }}"
+  register: eos_eapi_output
+  connection: local
+  ignore_errors: yes
+
+- assert:
+    that: eos_eapi_output.failed == true
+
+- debug: msg="START CLI/BADTRANSPORT.YAML"