diff --git a/cmd/lotus-shed/cid.go b/cmd/lotus-shed/cid.go
index 7839ec601..76ab8ec8e 100644
--- a/cmd/lotus-shed/cid.go
+++ b/cmd/lotus-shed/cid.go
@@ -5,38 +5,55 @@ import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
 
-	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
-
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
 	mh "github.com/multiformats/go-multihash"
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
+	"golang.org/x/xerrors"
 )
 
 var cidCmd = &cli.Command{
-	Name: "cid",
+	Name:  "cid",
+	Usage: "Cid command",
 	Subcommands: cli.Commands{
 		cidIdCmd,
 	},
 }
 
 var cidIdCmd = &cli.Command{
-	Name:  "id",
-	Usage: "create identity CID from hex or base64 data",
+	Name:      "id",
+	Usage:     "Create identity CID from hex or base64 data",
+	ArgsUsage: "[data]",
+	Flags: []cli.Flag{
+		&cli.StringFlag{
+			Name:  "encoding",
+			Value: "base64",
+			Usage: "specify input encoding to parse",
+		},
+	},
 	Action: func(cctx *cli.Context) error {
 		if !cctx.Args().Present() {
 			return fmt.Errorf("must specify data")
 		}
 
-		dec, err := hex.DecodeString(cctx.Args().First())
-		if err != nil {
-			dec, err = base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(cctx.Args().First())
+		var dec []byte
+		switch cctx.String("encoding") {
+		case "base64":
+			data, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(cctx.Args().First())
 			if err != nil {
-				return err
+				return xerrors.Errorf("decoding base64 value: %w", err)
 			}
-
+			dec = data
+		case "hex":
+			data, err := hex.DecodeString(cctx.Args().First())
+			if err != nil {
+				return xerrors.Errorf("decoding hex value: %w", err)
+			}
+			dec = data
+		default:
+			return xerrors.Errorf("unrecognized encoding: %s", cctx.String("encoding"))
 		}
 
 		builder := cid.V1Builder{Codec: cid.Raw, MhType: mh.IDENTITY}
-
 		c, err := builder.Sum(dec)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err