diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b516d94889..118a2b2971 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 - `apollo`
   - Support validation parameters for service:check [#953](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-tooling/pull/953)
+  - Leverage nullability of validation parameters [#1006](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-tooling/pull/1006)
 - `apollo-language-server`
   - Better error handling in ApolloEngineClient [#953](https://github.com/apollographql/apollo-tooling/pull/953)
 - `vscode-apollo`
diff --git a/packages/apollo/src/commands/service/check.ts b/packages/apollo/src/commands/service/check.ts
index 42d6806136..fa989c8f3d 100644
--- a/packages/apollo/src/commands/service/check.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo/src/commands/service/check.ts
@@ -47,18 +47,15 @@ export default class ServiceCheck extends ProjectCommand {
     }),
     validationPeriod: flags.string({
       description:
-        "The size of the time window with which to validate the schema against. You may provide a number (in seconds), or an ISO8601 format duration for more granularity (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601#Durations)",
-      default: "86400"
+        "The size of the time window with which to validate the schema against. You may provide a number (in seconds), or an ISO8601 format duration for more granularity (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601#Durations)"
     }),
     queryCountThreshold: flags.integer({
       description:
-        "Minimum number of requests within the requested time window for a query to be considered.",
-      default: 1
+        "Minimum number of requests within the requested time window for a query to be considered."
     }),
     queryCountThresholdPercentage: flags.integer({
       description:
-        "Number of requests within the requested time window for a query to be considered, relative to total request count. Expected values are between 0 and 0.05 (minimum 5% of total request volume)",
-      default: 0
+        "Number of requests within the requested time window for a query to be considered, relative to total request count. Expected values are between 0 and 0.05 (minimum 5% of total request volume)"
     })
   };
 
@@ -88,7 +85,7 @@ export default class ServiceCheck extends ProjectCommand {
               tag: flags.tag,
               gitContext: ctx.gitContext,
               frontend: flags.frontend || config.engine.frontend,
-              historicParameters
+              ...(historicParameters && { historicParameters })
             });
           }
         }
diff --git a/packages/apollo/src/utils/__tests__/validateHistoricParams.test.ts b/packages/apollo/src/utils/__tests__/validateHistoricParams.test.ts
index fb341c4f16..ed56b151c7 100644
--- a/packages/apollo/src/utils/__tests__/validateHistoricParams.test.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo/src/utils/__tests__/validateHistoricParams.test.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,35 @@ describe("validateHistoricParams", () => {
       })
     ).toThrow(/--queryCountThresholdPercentage/);
   });
+
+  it("handles partial input", () => {
+    expect(validateHistoricParams({})).toEqual(null);
+
+    expect(
+      validateHistoricParams({
+        validationPeriod: "P1D"
+      })
+    ).toEqual({ to: -0, from: -86400 });
+
+    expect(
+      validateHistoricParams({
+        queryCountThreshold: 1
+      })
+    ).toEqual({ queryCountThreshold: 1 });
+
+    expect(
+      validateHistoricParams({
+        queryCountThresholdPercentage: 50
+      })
+    ).toEqual({ queryCountThresholdPercentage: 0.5 });
+
+    expect(
+      validateHistoricParams({
+        validationPeriod: "P1D",
+        queryCountThresholdPercentage: 50
+      })
+    ).toEqual({ to: -0, from: -86400, queryCountThresholdPercentage: 0.5 });
+  });
 });
 
 function getValidParams(validationPeriod: string) {
diff --git a/packages/apollo/src/utils/validateHistoricParams.ts b/packages/apollo/src/utils/validateHistoricParams.ts
index b775ccb08d..34a3110c05 100644
--- a/packages/apollo/src/utils/validateHistoricParams.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo/src/utils/validateHistoricParams.ts
@@ -5,46 +5,61 @@ export function validateHistoricParams({
   validationPeriod,
   queryCountThreshold,
   queryCountThresholdPercentage
-}: {
+}: Partial<{
   validationPeriod: string;
   queryCountThreshold: number;
   queryCountThresholdPercentage: number;
-}): HistoricQueryParameters {
-  // Validation period can be one of two things:
-  // 1) a number in seconds
-  // 2) an ISO 8601 formatted duration, i.e. "P1D", "P10DT1H", "PT6H"
-  const from = isNumeric(validationPeriod)
-    ? -1 * duration(Number(validationPeriod), "seconds").asSeconds()
-    : -1 * duration(validationPeriod).asSeconds();
-
-  if (from >= 0) {
-    throw new Error(
-      "Please provide a valid duration for the --validationPeriod flag. Valid durations are represented in ISO 8601, see: https://bit.ly/2DEJ3UN."
-    );
+}>): Partial<HistoricQueryParameters> | null {
+  if (
+    !validationPeriod &&
+    !queryCountThreshold &&
+    !queryCountThresholdPercentage
+  ) {
+    return null;
   }
 
-  if (!Number.isInteger(queryCountThreshold) || queryCountThreshold < 1) {
-    throw new Error(
-      "Please provide a valid number for the --queryCountThreshold flag. Valid numbers are integers in the range x >= 1."
-    );
+  let from: number | null = null;
+  if (validationPeriod) {
+    // Validation period can be one of two things:
+    // 1) a number in seconds
+    // 2) an ISO 8601 formatted duration, i.e. "P1D", "P10DT1H", "PT6H"
+    from = isNumeric(validationPeriod)
+      ? -1 * duration(Number(validationPeriod), "seconds").asSeconds()
+      : -1 * duration(validationPeriod).asSeconds();
+
+    if (from >= 0) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "Please provide a valid duration for the --validationPeriod flag. Valid durations are represented in ISO 8601, see: https://bit.ly/2DEJ3UN."
+      );
+    }
   }
 
   if (
-    queryCountThresholdPercentage < 0 ||
-    queryCountThresholdPercentage > 100
+    queryCountThreshold &&
+    (!Number.isInteger(queryCountThreshold) || queryCountThreshold < 1)
   ) {
     throw new Error(
-      "Please provide a valid number for the --queryCountThresholdPercentage flag. Valid numbers are in the range 0 <= x <= 100."
+      "Please provide a valid number for the --queryCountThreshold flag. Valid numbers are integers in the range x >= 1."
     );
   }
 
-  const asPercentage = queryCountThresholdPercentage / 100;
+  let asPercentage: number | null = null;
+  if (queryCountThresholdPercentage) {
+    if (
+      queryCountThresholdPercentage < 0 ||
+      queryCountThresholdPercentage > 100
+    ) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "Please provide a valid number for the --queryCountThresholdPercentage flag. Valid numbers are in the range 0 <= x <= 100."
+      );
+    }
+    asPercentage = queryCountThresholdPercentage / 100;
+  }
 
   return {
-    to: -0,
-    from,
-    queryCountThreshold,
-    queryCountThresholdPercentage: asPercentage
+    ...(from && { to: -0, from }),
+    ...(queryCountThreshold && { queryCountThreshold }),
+    ...(asPercentage && { queryCountThresholdPercentage: asPercentage })
   };
 }