diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Coursier.scala b/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Coursier.scala
index dbd8ec866..b1ea1710d 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Coursier.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Coursier.scala
@@ -53,8 +53,6 @@ case class CacheOptions(
     cache: String = CacheOptions.default
 )
 
-@AppName("Coursier")
-@ProgName("coursier")
 sealed trait CoursierCommand extends Command
 
 case class Fetch(
@@ -278,7 +276,7 @@ case class Bootstrap(
     downloadDir: String,
   @ExtraName("f")
     force: Boolean,
-  @HelpMessage(s"Internal use - prepend base classpath options to arguments")
+  @HelpMessage(s"Internal use - prepend base classpath options to arguments (like -B jar1 -B jar2 etc.)")
   @ExtraName("b")
     prependClasspath: Boolean,
   @HelpMessage("Set environment variables in the generated launcher. No escaping is done. Value is simply put between quotes in the launcher preamble.")
@@ -394,8 +392,7 @@ case class Bootstrap(
 }
 
 case class BaseCommand(
-  // FIXME Need a @NoHelp annotation in case-app to hide an option from help message
-  @HelpMessage("For internal use only - class path used to launch coursier")
+  @Hidden
   @ExtraName("B")
     baseCp: List[String]
 ) extends Command {
@@ -413,5 +410,8 @@ case class BaseCommand(
 }
 
 object Coursier extends CommandAppOfWithBase[BaseCommand, CoursierCommand] {
+  override def appName = "Coursier"
+  override def progName = "coursier"
+
   private[coursier] var baseCp = Seq.empty[String]
 }
diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Helper.scala b/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Helper.scala
index ae28c8b83..c46df1c1e 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Helper.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala/coursier/cli/Helper.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package coursier.cli
 
 import java.io.File
+import java.util.UUID
 
 import caseapp.CaseApp
 import coursier._
@@ -133,22 +134,50 @@ class Helper(
   }
 
   val repoMap = cache.map()
+  val repoByBase = repoMap.map { case (_, v @ (m, _)) =>
+    m.root -> v
+  }
 
-  if (repositoryIds.exists(!repoMap.contains(_))) {
-    val notFound = repositoryIds
-      .filter(!repoMap.contains(_))
+  val repositoryIdsOpt0 = repositoryIds.map { id =>
+    repoMap.get(id) match {
+      case Some(v) => Right(v)
+      case None =>
+        if (id.contains("://")) {
+          val root0 = if (id.endsWith("/")) id else id + "/"
+          Right(
+            repoByBase.getOrElse(root0, {
+              val id0 = UUID.randomUUID().toString
+              if (verbose0 >= 1)
+                Console.err.println(s"Addding repository $id0 ($root0)")
 
+              // FIXME This could be done more cleanly
+              cache.add(id0, root0, ivyLike = false)
+              cache.map().getOrElse(id0,
+                sys.error(s"Adding repository $id0 ($root0)")
+              )
+            })
+          )
+        } else
+          Left(id)
+    }
+  }
+
+  val notFoundRepositoryIds = repositoryIdsOpt0.collect {
+    case Left(id) => id
+  }
+
+  if (notFoundRepositoryIds.nonEmpty) {
     errPrintln(
-      (if (notFound.lengthCompare(1) == 1) "Repository" else "Repositories") +
+      (if (notFoundRepositoryIds.lengthCompare(1) == 0) "Repository" else "Repositories") +
         " not found: " +
-        notFound.mkString(", ")
+        notFoundRepositoryIds.mkString(", ")
     )
 
     sys.exit(1)
   }
 
-  val (repositories0, fileCaches) = repositoryIds
-    .map(repoMap)
+  val (repositories0, fileCaches) = repositoryIdsOpt0
+    .collect { case Right(v) => v }
     .unzip
 
   val repositories = repositories0
@@ -192,7 +221,7 @@ class Helper(
     filter = Some(dep => keepOptional || !dep.optional)
   )
 
-  val fetchQuiet = coursier.fetch(repositories)
+  val fetchQuiet = coursier.fetchLocalFirst(repositories)
   val fetch0 =
     if (verbose0 == 0) fetchQuiet
     else {
diff --git a/core/shared/src/main/scala/coursier/package.scala b/core/shared/src/main/scala/coursier/package.scala
index f3c3a58f6..bb58b4391 100644
--- a/core/shared/src/main/scala/coursier/package.scala
+++ b/core/shared/src/main/scala/coursier/package.scala
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import scalaz.{ -\/, \/- }
 import scalaz.concurrent.Task
 
 /**
@@ -109,4 +110,27 @@ package object coursier {
       )
   }
 
+  def fetchLocalFirst(
+    repositories: Seq[core.Repository]
+  )(implicit
+    cachePolicy: CachePolicy
+  ): ResolutionProcess.Fetch[Task] = {
+
+    modVers =>
+      Task.gatherUnordered(
+        modVers
+          .map {case (module, version) =>
+            def attempt(cachePolicy: CachePolicy) =
+              Repository.find(repositories, module, version)(cachePolicy)
+                .run
+                .map((module, version) -> _)
+
+            attempt(CachePolicy.LocalOnly).flatMap {
+              case v @ (_, \/-(_)) => Task.now(v)
+              case (_, -\/(_)) => attempt(cachePolicy)
+            }
+          }
+      )
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/files/src/main/scala/coursier/Files.scala b/files/src/main/scala/coursier/Files.scala
index e64e0e690..23c74fd85 100644
--- a/files/src/main/scala/coursier/Files.scala
+++ b/files/src/main/scala/coursier/Files.scala
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ case class Files(
             cacheDir + "/" + url.stripPrefix(base)
         }
 
-    if (artifact.extra.contains("local") || isLocal)
+    if (artifact.extra.contains("local"))
       artifact
     else
       artifact.copy(extra = artifact.extra + ("local" ->
@@ -141,14 +141,19 @@ case class Files(
 
 
     val tasks =
-      for ((f, url) <- pairs if url != ("file:" + f) && url != ("file://" + f)) yield {
-        val file = new File(f)
-        cachePolicy[FileError \/ File](
-          _.isLeft )(
-          locally(file) )(
-          _ => remote(file, url)
-        ).map(e => (file, url) -> e.map(_ => ()))
-      }
+      for ((f, url) <- pairs) yield
+        if (url != ("file:" + f) && url != ("file://" + f)) {
+          assert(!f.startsWith("file:/"), s"Wrong file detection: $f, $url")
+          val file = new File(f)
+          cachePolicy[FileError \/ File](
+            _.isLeft)(
+            locally(file))(
+            _ => remote(file, url)
+          ).map(e => (file, url) -> e.map(_ => ()))
+        } else {
+          val file = new File(f)
+          Task.now(((file, url), \/-(())))
+        }
 
     Nondeterminism[Task].gather(tasks)
   }