diff --git a/slapos/cli/request.py b/slapos/cli/request.py
index 3a8b0329b3f1f84045769a133082a0d1668e39be..21fb632eb2fb0d264f1ca1f433cb7408b2900db2 100644
--- a/slapos/cli/request.py
+++ b/slapos/cli/request.py
@@ -44,8 +44,7 @@ class RequestCommand(ClientConfigCommand):
                         action='store_true',
                         help='Ask for a slave instance')
 
-        # XXX maybe find a better name? we already have a global --cfg option
-        ap.add_argument('--configuration',
+        ap.add_argument('--parameters',
                         nargs='+',
                         help="Give your configuration 'option1=value1 option2=value2'")
 
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@ class RequestCommand(ClientConfigCommand):
 
     def take_action(self, args):
         args.node = parse_option_dict(args.node)
-        args.configuration = parse_option_dict(args.configuration)
+        args.parameters = parse_option_dict(args.parameters)
 
         configp = self.fetch_config(args)
         conf = ClientConfig(args, configp)
diff --git a/slapos/cli_legacy/request.py b/slapos/cli_legacy/request.py
index 8bec7ca15631eb35f20e319d5addf49abcabe7d4..4b07bb648d3cae715fa6bc59059680e223a522b3 100644
--- a/slapos/cli_legacy/request.py
+++ b/slapos/cli_legacy/request.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def request():
   args = ap.parse_args()
 
   if args.configuration:
-    args.configuration = argToDict(args.configuration)
+    args.parameters = argToDict(args.configuration)
 
   if args.node:
     args.node = argToDict(args.node)
diff --git a/slapos/client.py b/slapos/client.py
index 87e60cb3f99bbf865191f6caa6180bad1550a647..dcc6b2a3b2e63b7a8dd290f304c2e9274864ad4e 100644
--- a/slapos/client.py
+++ b/slapos/client.py
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ def do_request(conf, local):
     partition = local['slap'].registerOpenOrder().request(
       software_release = conf.software_url,
       partition_reference = conf.reference,
-      partition_parameter_kw = conf.configuration,
+      partition_parameter_kw = conf.parameters,
       software_type = conf.type,
       filter_kw = conf.node,
       shared = conf.slave