diff --git a/cmd/chisel/cmd_cut.go b/cmd/chisel/cmd_cut.go
index 7fee56e8..f8992270 100644
--- a/cmd/chisel/cmd_cut.go
+++ b/cmd/chisel/cmd_cut.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func (cmd *cmdCut) Execute(args []string) error {
 		sliceKeys[i] = sliceKey
 	}
 
-	release, _, err := getRelease(cmd.Release)
+	release, _, err := readOrFetchRelease(cmd.Release)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/chisel/cmd_info.go b/cmd/chisel/cmd_info.go
index 47f3330c..69ca9967 100644
--- a/cmd/chisel/cmd_info.go
+++ b/cmd/chisel/cmd_info.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func (cmd *infoCmd) Execute(args []string) error {
 		return ErrExtraArgs
 	}
 
-	release, _, err := getRelease(cmd.Release)
+	release, _, err := readOrFetchRelease(cmd.Release)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/chisel/helpers.go b/cmd/chisel/helpers.go
index 5a3b886c..14b9bd8d 100644
--- a/cmd/chisel/helpers.go
+++ b/cmd/chisel/helpers.go
@@ -41,9 +41,12 @@ func readReleaseInfo() (label, version string, err error) {
 	return "", "", fmt.Errorf("cannot infer release via /etc/lsb-release, see the --release option")
 }
 
-// getRelease returns the release and release label (e.g. ubuntu-22.04 or
-// /path/to/release/dir/ if a directory was passed as input).
-func getRelease(releaseStr string) (release *setup.Release, releaseLabel string, err error) {
+// readOrFetchRelease takes a release branch name or a release directory path.
+// It fetches or reads the chisel-release depending on the nature of input and
+// returns the release and release label.
+// If the input is empty, it tries to read the release label from the host
+// system and fetch the chisel-release accordingly.
+func readOrFetchRelease(releaseStr string) (release *setup.Release, releaseLabel string, err error) {
 	if strings.Contains(releaseStr, "/") {
 		release, err = setup.ReadRelease(releaseStr)
 		releaseLabel = releaseStr