--- a/cwctl.py	Tue Apr 10 17:07:03 2012 +0200
+++ b/cwctl.py	Tue Apr 10 17:09:04 2012 +0200
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# copyright 2003-2011 LOGILAB S.A. (Paris, FRANCE), all rights reserved.
+# copyright 2003-2012 LOGILAB S.A. (Paris, FRANCE), all rights reserved.
 # contact http://www.logilab.fr/ -- mailto:contact@logilab.fr
 #
 # This file is part of CubicWeb.
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@
 
 from os.path import exists, join, isfile, isdir, dirname, abspath
 
+from urlparse import urlparse
+
 from logilab.common.clcommands import CommandLine
 from logilab.common.shellutils import ASK
 
@@ -867,31 +869,45 @@
           'group': 'local'
           }),
 
-        ('pyro',
-         {'short': 'P', 'action' : 'store_true',
-          'help': 'connect to a running instance through Pyro.',
-          'group': 'remote',
-          }),
-        ('pyro-ns-host',
-         {'short': 'H', 'type' : 'string', 'metavar': '<host[:port]>',
-          'help': 'Pyro name server host. If not set, will be detected by '
-          'using a broadcast query.',
+        ('repo-uri',
+         {'short': 'H', 'type' : 'string', 'metavar': '<protocol>://<[host][:port]>',
+          'help': 'URI of the CubicWeb repository to connect to. URI can be \
+pyro://[host:port] the Pyro name server host; if the pyro nameserver is not set, \
+it will be detected by using a broadcast query, a ZMQ URL or \
+inmemory:// (default) use an in-memory repository.',
           'group': 'remote'
           }),
         )
 
     def run(self, args):
         appid = args.pop(0)
-        if self.config.pyro:
+        if self.config.repo_uri:
+            uri = urlparse(self.config.repo_uri)
+            if uri.scheme == 'pyro':
+                cnxtype = uri.scheme
+                hostport = uri.netloc
+            elif uri.scheme == 'inmemory':
+                cnxtype = ''
+                hostport = ''
+            else:
+                cnxtype = 'zmq'
+                hostport = self.config.repo_uri
+        else:
+            cnxtype = ''
+
+        if cnxtype:
             from cubicweb import AuthenticationError
-            from cubicweb.dbapi import connect
+            from cubicweb.dbapi import connect, ConnectionProperties
             from cubicweb.server.utils import manager_userpasswd
             from cubicweb.server.migractions import ServerMigrationHelper
+            cnxprops = ConnectionProperties(cnxtype=cnxtype)
+
             while True:
                 try:
                     login, pwd = manager_userpasswd(msg=None)
                     cnx = connect(appid, login=login, password=pwd,
-                                  host=self.config.pyro_ns_host, mulcnx=False)
+                                  host=hostport, mulcnx=False,
+                                  cnxprops=cnxprops)
                 except AuthenticationError, ex:
                     print ex
                 except (KeyboardInterrupt, EOFError):
@@ -927,7 +943,7 @@
             else:
                 mih.interactive_shell()
         finally:
-            if not self.config.pyro:
+            if not cnxtype: # shutdown in-memory repo
                 mih.shutdown()
             else:
                 cnx.close()