diff --git a/radicle-cli/examples/rad-id-private.md b/radicle-cli/examples/rad-id-private.md
index b09a34a8..05262694 100644
--- a/radicle-cli/examples/rad-id-private.md
+++ b/radicle-cli/examples/rad-id-private.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ options. Both options can be specified multiple times in the same command line c
 Here we will add Bob and Eve's DIDs to the `allow`list:
 
 ```
-$ rad id update --title "Allow Bob & Eve" --description "" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk --allow did:key:z6Mkux1aUQD2voWWukVb5nNUR7thrHveQG4pDQua8nVhib7Z -q
+$ rad id update --title "Allow Bob & Eve" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk --allow did:key:z6Mkux1aUQD2voWWukVb5nNUR7thrHveQG4pDQua8nVhib7Z -q
 ...
 $ rad inspect --identity
 {
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ $ rad inspect --identity
 To remove a peer's DID, we can use the `--disallow` option. Let's remove both of them again:
 
 ```
-$ rad id update --title "Remove allow list" --description "" --disallow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk --disallow did:key:z6Mkux1aUQD2voWWukVb5nNUR7thrHveQG4pDQua8nVhib7Z
+$ rad id update --title "Remove allow list" --disallow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk --disallow did:key:z6Mkux1aUQD2voWWukVb5nNUR7thrHveQG4pDQua8nVhib7Z
 ...
 $ rad inspect --identity
 {
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ Note that using both `--disallow` and `--allow` with the same DID will result in
 an error:
 
 ``` (fails)
-$ rad id update --title "Remove allow list" --description "" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk --disallow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk
+$ rad id update --title "Remove allow list" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk --disallow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk
 ✗ Error: `--allow` and `--disallow` must not overlap: ["did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk"]
 ```
 
@@ -66,11 +66,11 @@ Allowing or disallowing the same peer twice will result in an error the second
 call, since there is no update specified:
 
 ```
-$ rad id update --title "Allow Bob" --description "" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk -q
+$ rad id update --title "Allow Bob" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk -q
 ...
 ```
 ``` (fails)
-$ rad id update --title "Allow Bob" --description "" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk -q
+$ rad id update --title "Allow Bob" --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJRJh6kj6Y48WRqVv4N1tRk -q
 ✗ Error: no update specified
 ✗ Hint: an update to the identity must be specified, run `rad id update -h` to see the available options
 ```
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ $ rad id update --visibility public --allow did:key:z6Mkt67GdsW7715MEfRuP4pSZxJR
 Let's change the repository to `public`:
 
 ```
-$ rad id update --title "IPO" --description "" --visibility public -q
+$ rad id update --title "IPO" --visibility public -q
 ...
 ```
 
diff --git a/radicle-cli/src/commands/id.rs b/radicle-cli/src/commands/id.rs
index 215b2f84..2e5a5d2e 100644
--- a/radicle-cli/src/commands/id.rs
+++ b/radicle-cli/src/commands/id.rs
@@ -686,8 +686,8 @@ like a commit message. Markdown is supported in the title
 and description.
 -->"#;
 
-    let result = if let (Some(t), Some(d)) = (title.as_ref(), description.as_ref()) {
-        Some((t.to_owned(), d.to_owned()))
+    let result = if let (Some(t), d) = (title.as_ref(), description.as_deref()) {
+        Some((t.to_owned(), d.unwrap_or_default().to_owned()))
     } else {
         let result = Message::edit_title_description(title, description, HELP)?;
         if let Some((title, description)) = result {