diff --git a/src/Panel/AuthPanel.php b/src/Panel/AuthPanel.php
index 9cd92340..2f58482f 100644
--- a/src/Panel/AuthPanel.php
+++ b/src/Panel/AuthPanel.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 use Cake\Core\InstanceConfigTrait;
 use Cake\Event\EventInterface;
 use DebugKit\DebugPanel;
+use RuntimeException;
 use TinyAuth\Auth\AclTrait;
 use TinyAuth\Auth\AllowTrait;
 use TinyAuth\Utility\Config;
@@ -74,7 +75,10 @@ public function shutdown(EventInterface $event): void {
 		$rule = $this->_getAllowRule($params);
 		$this->isPublic = $this->_isActionAllowed($rule, $params['action']);
 
-		$controller->loadComponent('TinyAuth.AuthUser');
+		if (!$controller->components()->has('AuthUser')) {
+			throw new RuntimeException('You must have TinyAuth.AuthUser component installed');
+		}
+
 		/** @var \TinyAuth\Controller\Component\AuthUserComponent $authUserComponent */
 		$authUserComponent = $controller->components()->get('AuthUser');
 		$user = $authUserComponent->user();
diff --git a/tests/TestCase/Panel/AuthPanelTest.php b/tests/TestCase/Panel/AuthPanelTest.php
index 501627bb..c095ba7a 100644
--- a/tests/TestCase/Panel/AuthPanelTest.php
+++ b/tests/TestCase/Panel/AuthPanelTest.php
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ public function tearDown(): void {
 	 */
 	public function testPanelRestrictedAction() {
 		$controller = new Controller(new ServerRequest());
+		$controller->loadComponent('TinyAuth.AuthUser');
 		$event = new Event('event', $controller);
 
 		$this->panel->shutdown($event);
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ public function testPanelPublicAction() {
 		$request = new ServerRequest(['url' => '/users']);
 		$request = $request->withAttribute('params', $url);
 		$controller = new Controller($request);
+		$controller->loadComponent('TinyAuth.AuthUser');
 		$event = new Event('event', $controller);
 
 		$this->panel->shutdown($event);
@@ -115,6 +117,7 @@ public function testPanelAclRestricted() {
 		$request = new ServerRequest(['url' => '/tags']);
 		$request = $request->withAttribute('params', $url);
 		$controller = new Controller($request);
+		$controller->loadComponent('TinyAuth.AuthUser');
 		$event = new Event('event', $controller);
 
 		$this->panel->shutdown($event);
@@ -147,6 +150,7 @@ public function testPanelAclAllowed() {
 			'role_id' => 1,
 		]);
 		$controller = new Controller($request);
+		$controller->loadComponent('TinyAuth.AuthUser');
 		$event = new Event('event', $controller);
 
 		$this->panel->shutdown($event);