diff --git a/catalog.go b/catalog.go
index 405321d..a797a66 100644
--- a/catalog.go
+++ b/catalog.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"sort"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3"
 )
@@ -90,6 +91,16 @@ func NewCatalogFromJSON(stream io.Reader) (Catalog, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
+// NewCatalog returns a catalog loaded from a location.
+// The location can be a local path or an URL
+func NewCatalog(ctx context.Context, location string) (Catalog, error) {
+	if strings.HasPrefix(location, "http") {
+		return NewCatalogFromURL(ctx, location)
+	}
+
+	return NewCatalogFromFile(location)
+}
+
 // NewCatalogFromFile creates a Catalog from a json file
 func NewCatalogFromFile(catalogFile string) (Catalog, error) {
 	json, err := os.ReadFile(catalogFile) //nolint:forbidigo,gosec
diff --git a/cmd/cmd.go b/cmd/cmd.go
index 190e290..a0259c9 100644
--- a/cmd/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/cmd.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ func New() *cobra.Command {
 				return fmt.Errorf("path to registry must be specified")
 			}
 
-			catalog, err := k6catalog.NewCatalogFromFile(path)
+			catalog, err := k6catalog.NewCatalog(context.TODO(), path)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -55,7 +56,12 @@ func New() *cobra.Command {
 		},
 	}
 
-	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&path, "catalog-file", "f", "", "path to catalog file")
+	cmd.Flags().StringVar(
+		&path,
+		"catalog",
+		k6catalog.DefaultCatalogURL,
+		"path to catalog. Can be a path to a local file or a URL",
+	)
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&dependency, "name", "d", "", "name of dependency")
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&constrains, "constrains", "c", "*", "version constrains")