diff --git a/crates/cli/src/main.rs b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
index 80c892583f..1f4568e0f9 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ struct InfoPlist {
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
     // Intercept version designators
     #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
-    if let Some(channel) = std::env::args().nth(1) {
+    if let Some(channel) = std::env::args().nth(1).filter(|arg| arg.starts_with("--")) {
         // When the first argument is a name of a release channel, we're gonna spawn off a cli of that version, with trailing args passed along.
         use std::str::FromStr as _;
 
-        if let Ok(channel) = release_channel::ReleaseChannel::from_str(&channel) {
+        if let Ok(channel) = release_channel::ReleaseChannel::from_str(&channel[2..]) {
             return mac_os::spawn_channel_cli(channel, std::env::args().skip(2).collect());
         }
     }