diff --git a/clab/clab.go b/clab/clab.go
index 9c7d2c763..681dc72a2 100644
--- a/clab/clab.go
+++ b/clab/clab.go
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ func WithTopoPath(path, varsFile string) ClabOption {
 				return err
 			}
 		// if the path is not a local file and a URL, download the file and store it in the tmp dir
-		case !utils.FileOrDirExists(path) && utils.IsHttpURL(path):
+		case !utils.FileOrDirExists(path) && utils.IsHttpURL(path, true):
 			file, err = c.downloadTopoFile(path)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
diff --git a/clab/config.go b/clab/config.go
index 62951b65a..1a28a93dd 100644
--- a/clab/config.go
+++ b/clab/config.go
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ func (c *CLab) processStartupConfig(nodeCfg *types.NodeConfig) error {
 	// it contains at least one newline
 	isEmbeddedConfig := strings.Count(p, "\n") >= 1
 	// downloadable config starts with http(s)://
-	isDownloadableConfig := utils.IsHttpURL(p)
+	isDownloadableConfig := utils.IsHttpURL(p, false)
 
 	if isEmbeddedConfig || isDownloadableConfig {
 		// both embedded and downloadable configs are require clab tmp dir to be created
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 734c9fa0d..e2043b597 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ func getTopoFilePath(cmd *cobra.Command) error {
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-		case utils.IsHttpURL(topo):
+		case utils.IsHttpURL(topo, true):
 			// canonize the passed topo as URL by adding https schema if it was missing
 			if !strings.HasPrefix(topo, "http://") && !strings.HasPrefix(topo, "https://") {
 				topo = "https://" + topo
diff --git a/nodes/srl/srl.go b/nodes/srl/srl.go
index 6040822ff..7786b6d37 100644
--- a/nodes/srl/srl.go
+++ b/nodes/srl/srl.go
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ func (s *srl) PreDeploy(_ context.Context, params *nodes.PreDeployParams) error
 		for _, fullpath := range agents {
 			basename := filepath.Base(fullpath)
 			// if it is a url extract filename from url or content-disposition header
-			if utils.IsHttpURL(fullpath) {
+			if utils.IsHttpURL(fullpath, false) {
 				basename = utils.FilenameForURL(fullpath)
 			}
 			// enforce yml extension
diff --git a/utils/file.go b/utils/file.go
index 59eb10cb8..ce14d55de 100644
--- a/utils/file.go
+++ b/utils/file.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func FileOrDirExists(filename string) bool {
 // mode is the desired target file permissions, e.g. "0644".
 func CopyFile(src, dst string, mode os.FileMode) (err error) {
 	var sfi os.FileInfo
-	if !IsHttpURL(src) {
+	if !IsHttpURL(src, false) {
 		sfi, err = os.Stat(src)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -82,7 +82,21 @@ func CopyFile(src, dst string, mode os.FileMode) (err error) {
 }
 
 // IsHttpURL checks if the url is a downloadable HTTP URL.
-func IsHttpURL(s string) bool {
+// The allowSchemaless toggle when set to true will allow URLs without a schema
+// such as "srlinux.dev/clab-srl". This is shortened notion that is used with
+// "deploy -t <url>" only.
+// Other callers of IsHttpURL should set the toggle to false.
+func IsHttpURL(s string, allowSchemaless bool) bool {
+	// '-' denotes stdin and not the URL
+	if s == "-" {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	//
+	if !allowSchemaless && !strings.HasPrefix(s, "http://") && !strings.HasPrefix(s, "https://") {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	if !strings.HasPrefix(s, "http://") && !strings.HasPrefix(s, "https://") {
 		s = "https://" + s
 	}
@@ -100,7 +114,7 @@ func IsHttpURL(s string) bool {
 func CopyFileContents(src, dst string, mode os.FileMode) (err error) {
 	var in io.ReadCloser
 
-	if IsHttpURL(src) {
+	if IsHttpURL(src, false) {
 		client := NewHTTPClient()
 
 		// download using client
@@ -280,7 +294,7 @@ func FilenameForURL(rawUrl string) string {
 	}
 
 	// try extracting the filename from "content-disposition" header
-	if IsHttpURL(rawUrl) {
+	if IsHttpURL(rawUrl, false) {
 		resp, err := http.Head(rawUrl)
 		if err != nil {
 			return filepath.Base(u.Path)
diff --git a/utils/file_test.go b/utils/file_test.go
index ebafe147c..2e96c454d 100644
--- a/utils/file_test.go
+++ b/utils/file_test.go
@@ -87,36 +87,52 @@ func TestFileLines(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestIsHttpURL(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
-		name string
-		url  string
-		want bool
+		name            string
+		url             string
+		allowSchemaless bool
+		want            bool
 	}{
 		{
-			name: "Valid HTTP URL",
-			url:  "http://example.com",
-			want: true,
+			name:            "Valid HTTP URL",
+			url:             "http://example.com",
+			allowSchemaless: false,
+			want:            true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "Valid HTTPS URL",
+			url:             "https://example.com",
+			allowSchemaless: false,
+			want:            true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "Valid URL without scheme",
+			url:             "srlinux.dev/clab-srl",
+			allowSchemaless: true,
+			want:            true,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "Valid HTTPS URL",
-			url:  "https://example.com",
-			want: true,
+			name:            "Valid URL without scheme and schemaless not allowed",
+			url:             "srlinux.dev/clab-srl",
+			allowSchemaless: false,
+			want:            false,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "Valid URL without scheme",
-			url:  "srlinux.dev/clab-srl",
-			want: true,
+			name:            "Invalid URL",
+			url:             "/foo/bar",
+			allowSchemaless: false,
+			want:            false,
 		},
 		{
-			name: "Invalid URL",
-			url:  "/foo/bar",
-			want: false,
+			name:            "stdin symbol '-'",
+			url:             "-",
+			allowSchemaless: false,
+			want:            false,
 		},
-		// Add more test cases as needed
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			if got := IsHttpURL(tt.url); got != tt.want {
+			if got := IsHttpURL(tt.url, tt.allowSchemaless); got != tt.want {
 				t.Errorf("IsHttpUri() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
 			}
 		})