diff --git a/swh/core/cli/db.py b/swh/core/cli/db.py
index 5690008653862ab0d7286e2827048a56f5dc6e91..5786348a2c427b0ab293cb42cda58462b1752795 100755
--- a/swh/core/cli/db.py
+++ b/swh/core/cli/db.py
@@ -814,7 +814,11 @@ def handle_cmd_args(
     else:
         if dbname is not None:
             # default behavior
-            dbcfg = {"cls": "postgresql", "db": dbname}
+            if ":" in module:
+                module, cls = module.split(":", 1)
+            else:
+                cls = "postgresql"
+            dbcfg = {"cls": cls, "db": dbname}
             fullmodule, backend_class = get_swh_backend_module(
                 swh_package=module, cls="postgresql"
             )