diff --git a/src/main/java/dev/jbang/util/Util.java b/src/main/java/dev/jbang/util/Util.java
index c0e789e81..8e03ef352 100644
--- a/src/main/java/dev/jbang/util/Util.java
+++ b/src/main/java/dev/jbang/util/Util.java
@@ -67,7 +67,9 @@
 import dev.jbang.catalog.Catalog;
 import dev.jbang.cli.BaseCommand;
 import dev.jbang.cli.ExitException;
+import dev.jbang.dependencies.DependencyResolver;
 import dev.jbang.dependencies.DependencyUtil;
+import dev.jbang.dependencies.ModularClassPath;
 import dev.jbang.source.Source;
 
 public class Util {
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ public class Util {
 			"^[a-z][a-z0-9]*(\\.[a-z][a-z0-9]*)*$");
 
 	private static final Pattern subUrlPattern = Pattern.compile(
-			"^(%?%https?://.+$)|(%?%\\{https?://[^}]+})");
+			"^(%?%https?://.+$)|(%?%\\{[a-z]+:[^}]+})");
 
 	private static boolean verbose;
 	private static boolean quiet;
@@ -1894,10 +1896,22 @@ public static String substituteRemote(String arg) {
 			if (txt.startsWith("{") && txt.endsWith("}")) {
 				txt = txt.substring(1, txt.length() - 1);
 			}
-			try {
-				return Matcher.quoteReplacement(Util.downloadAndCacheFile(txt).toString());
-			} catch (IOException e) {
-				throw new ExitException(BaseCommand.EXIT_INVALID_INPUT, "Error substituting remote file: " + txt, e);
+			if (txt.startsWith("http://") || txt.startsWith("https://")) {
+				try {
+					return Matcher.quoteReplacement(Util.downloadAndCacheFile(txt).toString());
+				} catch (IOException e) {
+					throw new ExitException(BaseCommand.EXIT_INVALID_INPUT, "Error substituting remote file: " + txt,
+							e);
+				}
+			} else if (txt.startsWith("deps:")) {
+				List<String> deps = Arrays.asList(txt.substring(5).split(","));
+				DependencyResolver resolver = new DependencyResolver();
+				resolver.addDependencies(deps);
+				ModularClassPath mcp = resolver.resolve();
+				return mcp.getClassPath();
+			} else {
+				String type = txt.substring(0, txt.indexOf(":"));
+				throw new ExitException(BaseCommand.EXIT_INVALID_INPUT, "Unknown substitution type: " + type);
 			}
 		});
 	}
diff --git a/src/test/java/dev/jbang/cli/TestRun.java b/src/test/java/dev/jbang/cli/TestRun.java
index 6529921c8..a37fdf933 100644
--- a/src/test/java/dev/jbang/cli/TestRun.java
+++ b/src/test/java/dev/jbang/cli/TestRun.java
@@ -2427,6 +2427,32 @@ void testRemoteFileArgComplexEscaped() throws Exception {
 		assertThat(result.err, not(containsString("foo%%{" + arg + "}bar")));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+	void testDepsSubstituteArg() throws Exception {
+		if (Util.isWindows()) {
+			environmentVariables.set(Util.JBANG_RUNTIME_SHELL, "powershell");
+		}
+		String script = examplesTestFolder.resolve("helloworld.java").toString();
+		CaptureResult<Integer> result = checkedRun(null, "run", "--verbose", script,
+				"%{deps:info.picocli:picocli:4.6.3,log4j:log4j:1.2.17}");
+		assertThat(result.err, containsString("Resolving dependencies..."));
+		assertThat(result.err,
+				containsString("info/picocli/picocli/4.6.3/picocli-4.6.3.jar".replace("/", File.separator)));
+		assertThat(result.err, containsString("log4j/log4j/1.2.17/log4j-1.2.17.jar".replace("/", File.separator)));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+	void testUnknownSubstituteArg() throws Exception {
+		if (Util.isWindows()) {
+			environmentVariables.set(Util.JBANG_RUNTIME_SHELL, "powershell");
+		}
+		String script = examplesTestFolder.resolve("helloworld.java").toString();
+		ExitException e = Assertions.assertThrows(ExitException.class,
+				() -> checkedRun(null, "run", "--verbose", script, "%{foo:bar}"));
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	void testHelloWorldGAVWithModulesButNoManifest() throws IOException {
 		environmentVariables.clear("JAVA_HOME");