diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ebab979..b1660da 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file
   - can now handle other text surrounding a pep440-compliant version number, which will not be modified
   - can now handle pre-releases correctly. The version to increment is the most recent version in the log with a valid pep440 version number in it. 
   - Release increment and prerelease increments can be mixed, allowing e.g: `yaclog release -mr` to create a release candidate with in incremented minor version number.
+- `release` base version is now an argument instead of an option, for consistency with other commands.
 
 ### Removed
 
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index c6aa368..6a36e54 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ class TestRelease(unittest.TestCase):
             runner.invoke(cli, ['init'])  # create the changelog
             runner.invoke(cli, ['entry', '-b', 'entry number 1'])
 
-            result = runner.invoke(cli, ['release', '--version', '1.0.0'])
+            result = runner.invoke(cli, ['release', '1.0.0'])
             check_result(self, result)
             self.assertEqual(yaclog.read(location).versions[0].name, '1.0.0')
             self.assertIn('1.0.0', result.output)
@@ -178,6 +178,11 @@ class TestRelease(unittest.TestCase):
             self.assertEqual(yaclog.read(location).versions[0].name, '3.0.0rc1')
             self.assertIn('3.0.0rc1', result.output)
 
+            result = runner.invoke(cli, ['release', '-r'])
+            check_result(self, result)
+            self.assertEqual(yaclog.read(location).versions[0].name, '3.0.0rc2')
+            self.assertIn('3.0.0rc1', result.output)
+
             result = runner.invoke(cli, ['release', '-f'])
             check_result(self, result)
             self.assertEqual(yaclog.read(location).versions[0].name, '3.0.0')
@@ -199,7 +204,7 @@ class TestRelease(unittest.TestCase):
             runner.invoke(cli, ['init'])  # create the changelog
             runner.invoke(cli, ['entry', '-b', 'entry number 1'])
 
-            result = runner.invoke(cli, ['release', '--version', '1.0.0', '-c'], input='y\n')
+            result = runner.invoke(cli, ['release', '1.0.0', '-c'], input='y\n')
             check_result(self, result)
             self.assertIn('Created commit', result.output)
             self.assertIn('Created tag', result.output)
diff --git a/yaclog/cli/__main__.py b/yaclog/cli/__main__.py
index c5ab22f..091d7e4 100644
--- a/yaclog/cli/__main__.py
+++ b/yaclog/cli/__main__.py
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ def reformat(obj: Changelog):
               help='Show version header and body.')
 @click.option('--name', '-n', 'str_func', flag_value=lambda v, k: v.name, help='Show only the version name')
 @click.option('--body', '-b', 'str_func', flag_value=lambda v, k: v.body(**k), help='Show only the version body.')
-@click.option('--header', '-h', 'str_func', flag_value=lambda v, k: v.preamble(**k), help='Show only the version header.')
+@click.option('--header', '-h', 'str_func', flag_value=lambda v, k: v.preamble(**k),
+              help='Show only the version header.')
 @click.argument('version_names', metavar='VERSIONS', type=str, nargs=-1)
 @click.pass_obj
 def show(obj: Changelog, all_versions, markdown, str_func, version_names):
@@ -168,7 +169,6 @@ def entry(obj: Changelog, bullets, paragraphs, section_name, version_name):
 
 
 @cli.command(short_help='Release versions.')
-@click.option('-v', '--version', 'version_name', type=str, default=None, help='The new version number to use.')
 @click.option('-M', '--major', 'rel_seg', flag_value=0, default=None, help='Increment major version number.')
 @click.option('-m', '--minor', 'rel_seg', flag_value=1, help='Increment minor version number.')
 @click.option('-p', '--patch', 'rel_seg', flag_value=2, help='Increment patch number.')
@@ -179,9 +179,15 @@ def entry(obj: Changelog, bullets, paragraphs, section_name, version_name):
 @click.option('-c', '--commit', is_flag=True,
               help='Create a git commit tagged with the new version number. '
                    'If there are no changes to commit, the current commit will be tagged instead.')
+@click.argument('version_name', metavar='VERSION', type=str, default=None, required=False)
 @click.pass_obj
 def release(obj: Changelog, version_name, rel_seg, pre_seg, commit):
-    """Release versions in the changelog and increment their version numbers"""
+    """
+    Release versions in the changelog and increment their version numbers.
+
+    VERSION is the name of the version to release. If VERSION is not provided but increment options are, then the most
+    recent released version (PEP440 version without any prerelease information) is used instead.
+    """
 
     if rel_seg is None and pre_seg is None and not version_name and not commit:
         click.echo('Nothing to release!')