diff --git a/swh/scheduler/cli.py b/swh/scheduler/cli.py
--- a/swh/scheduler/cli.py
+++ b/swh/scheduler/cli.py
@@ -118,8 +118,8 @@
         conf['scheduler']['cls'] = 'local'
         conf['scheduler']['args']['db'] = database
     elif url:
-        conf['scheduler']['cls'] = 'local'
-        conf['scheduler']['args']['url'] = url
+        conf['scheduler']['cls'] = 'remote'
+        conf['scheduler']['args'] = {'url': url}
     sched_conf = conf['scheduler']
     try:
         logger.debug('Instanciating scheduler with %s' % (