diff --git a/cmd/guacrest/cmd/root.go b/cmd/guacrest/cmd/root.go
index ddf3c5635d..a479f93472 100644
--- a/cmd/guacrest/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/guacrest/cmd/root.go
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ import (
 	"github.com/guacsec/guac/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+
+	// to register the ent backend flag defaults, i.e. --db-driver and --db-address
+	"github.com/guacsec/guac/pkg/assembler/backends"
+	_ "github.com/guacsec/guac/pkg/assembler/backends/ent/backend"
 )
 
 var flags = struct {
@@ -81,8 +85,6 @@ func init() {
 
 		// configuration of direct database connection
 		"db-direct-connection",
-		"db-driver",
-		"db-address",
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "failed to setup flags: %v", err)
@@ -95,6 +97,12 @@ func init() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
+	// Register backend-specific flags
+	if err := backends.RegisterFlags(rootCmd); err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "failed to register backend flags: %v", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
 	viper.SetEnvPrefix("GUAC")
 	viper.SetEnvKeyReplacer(strings.NewReplacer("-", "_"))
 	viper.AutomaticEnv()