diff --git a/contrib/completion/zsh/_devtools.in b/contrib/completion/zsh/_devtools.in
index 24e57bf..3aa0f96 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/zsh/_devtools.in
+++ b/contrib/completion/zsh/_devtools.in
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ _pkgctl_db_update_args=(
 
 _pkgctl_release_args=(
 	'(-m --message=)'{-m,--message=}"[Use the given <msg> as the commit message]:message:"
-	'(-r --repo=)'{-r,--repo=}"[Specify a target repository (disables auto-detection)]:repo:($DEVTOOLS_VALID_REPOS[*])"
+	'(-r --repo=)'{-r,--repo=}"[Specify a target repository for new packages]:repo:($DEVTOOLS_VALID_REPOS[*])"
 	'(-s --staging)'{-s,--staging}'[Release to the staging counterpart of the auto-detected repo]'
 	'(-t --testing)'{-t,--testing}'[Release to the testing counterpart of the auto-detected repo]'
 	'(-u --db-update)'{-u,--db-update}'[Automatically update the pacman database after uploading]'
diff --git a/doc/man/pkgctl-build.1.asciidoc b/doc/man/pkgctl-build.1.asciidoc
index e7ec714..f7abdeb 100644
--- a/doc/man/pkgctl-build.1.asciidoc
+++ b/doc/man/pkgctl-build.1.asciidoc
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ Build Options
 	Specify architectures to build for (disables auto-detection)
 
 *--repo* 'REPO'::
-	Specify a target repository (disables auto-detection)
+	Specify target repository for new packages not in any official repo.
+	Fallback to `'extra'` when building packages that are not present in any
+	official repository yet. Using this option is disallowed if the package is
+	already released, as it would circumvent the auto-detection safeguard.
 
 *-s, --staging*::
 	Build against the staging counterpart of the auto-detected repo
diff --git a/doc/man/pkgctl-release.1.asciidoc b/doc/man/pkgctl-release.1.asciidoc
index c991db4..01a0c9e 100644
--- a/doc/man/pkgctl-release.1.asciidoc
+++ b/doc/man/pkgctl-release.1.asciidoc
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ Options
 	Use the given <msg> as the commit message
 
 *-r, --repo* 'REPO'::
-	Specify a target repository (disables auto-detection)
+	Specify target repository for new packages not in any official repo.
+	Using this option is disallowed if the package is already released, as it
+	would circumvent the auto-detection safeguard.
 
 *-s, --staging*::
 	Build against the staging counterpart of the auto-detected repo
diff --git a/src/lib/build/build.sh b/src/lib/build/build.sh
index 64a6ce3..8e9a3bb 100644
--- a/src/lib/build/build.sh
+++ b/src/lib/build/build.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ pkgctl_build_usage() {
 
 		BUILD OPTIONS
 		    --arch ARCH          Specify architectures to build for (disables auto-detection)
-		    --repo REPO          Specify a target repository (disables auto-detection)
+		    --repo REPO          Specify target repository for new packages not in any official repo
 		    -s, --staging        Build against the staging counterpart of the auto-detected repo
 		    -t, --testing        Build against the testing counterpart of the auto-detected repo
 		    -o, --offload        Build on a remote server and transfer artifacts afterwards
@@ -89,8 +89,7 @@ pkgctl_build_check_option_group_repo() {
 	local repo=$2
 	local testing=$3
 	local staging=$4
-	if ( (( testing )) && (( staging )) ) ||
-		( [[ $repo =~ ^.*-(staging|testing)$ ]] && ( (( testing )) || (( staging )) )); then
+	if [[ -n "${repo}" ]] || (( testing )) || (( staging )); then
 		die "The argument '%s' cannot be used with one or more of the other specified arguments" "${option}"
 		exit 1
 	fi
@@ -153,8 +152,8 @@ pkgctl_build() {
 				;;
 			--repo)
 				(( $# <= 1 )) && die "missing argument for %s" "$1"
-				REPO="${2}"
 				pkgctl_build_check_option_group_repo '--repo' "${REPO}" "${TESTING}" "${STAGING}"
+				REPO="${2}"
 				shift 2
 				;;
 			--arch)
@@ -203,13 +202,13 @@ pkgctl_build() {
 				shift
 				;;
 			-s|--staging)
-				STAGING=1
 				pkgctl_build_check_option_group_repo '--staging' "${REPO}" "${TESTING}" "${STAGING}"
+				STAGING=1
 				shift
 				;;
 			-t|--testing)
-				TESTING=1
 				pkgctl_build_check_option_group_repo '--testing' "${REPO}" "${TESTING}" "${STAGING}"
+				TESTING=1
 				shift
 				;;
 			-c|--clean)
@@ -331,14 +330,22 @@ pkgctl_build() {
 		pkgbuild_checksum=$(b2sum PKGBUILD | awk '{print $1}')
 		msg "Building ${pkgbase}"
 
-		# auto-detection of build target
-		if [[ -z ${pkgrepo} ]]; then
-			if ! pkgrepo=$(get_pacman_repo_from_pkgbuild PKGBUILD); then
-				die 'failed to get pacman repo'
-			fi
-			if [[ -z "${pkgrepo}" ]]; then
-				die 'unknown repo, specify --repo for packages not currently in any official repo'
-			fi
+		# auto-detect target repository
+		if ! repo=$(get_pacman_repo_from_pkgbuild PKGBUILD); then
+			die 'Failed to query pacman repo'
+		fi
+
+		# fail if an existing package specifies --repo
+		if [[ -n "${repo}" ]] && [[ -n ${pkgrepo} ]]; then
+			die 'Using --repo for packages that exist in official repositories is disallowed'
+		fi
+
+		# assign auto-detected target repository
+		if [[ -n ${repo} ]]; then
+			pkgrepo=${repo}
+		# fallback to extra for unreleased packages
+		elif [[ -z ${pkgrepo} ]]; then
+			pkgrepo=extra
 		fi
 
 		# special cases to resolve final build target
diff --git a/src/lib/release.sh b/src/lib/release.sh
index 028d92e..700b2b0 100644
--- a/src/lib/release.sh
+++ b/src/lib/release.sh
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ pkgctl_release_usage() {
 
 		OPTIONS
 		    -m, --message MSG   Use the given <msg> as the commit message
-		    -r, --repo REPO     Specify a target repository (disables auto-detection)
+		    -r, --repo REPO     Specify target repository for new packages not in any official repo
 		    -s, --staging       Release to the staging counterpart of the auto-detected repo
 		    -t, --testing       Release to the testing counterpart of the auto-detected repo
 		    -u, --db-update     Automatically update the pacman database after uploading
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ pkgctl_release_usage() {
 
 		EXAMPLES
 		    $ ${COMMAND}
-		    $ ${COMMAND} --repo core-testing --message 'libyay 0.42 rebuild' libfoo libbar
-		    $ ${COMMAND} --staging --db-update libfoo
+		    $ ${COMMAND} --staging --message 'libyay 0.42 rebuild' libfoo libbar
+		    $ ${COMMAND} --repo extra --db-update new-package
 _EOF_
 }
 
@@ -134,15 +134,22 @@ pkgctl_release() {
 		pushd "${path}" >/dev/null
 		pkgbase=$(basename "${path}")
 
-		if [[ -n ${REPO} ]]; then
+		# auto-detect target repository
+		if ! repo=$(get_pacman_repo_from_pkgbuild PKGBUILD); then
+			die 'Failed to query pacman repo'
+		fi
+
+		# fail if an existing package specifies --repo
+		if [[ -n "${repo}" ]] && [[ -n ${REPO} ]]; then
+			die 'Using --repo for packages that exist in official repositories is disallowed'
+		fi
+
+		# fail if a new package does not specify --repo
+		if [[ -z "${repo}" ]]; then
+			if [[ -z ${REPO} ]]; then
+				die 'Specify --repo for packages that do not yet exist in official repositories'
+			fi
 			repo=${REPO}
-		else
-			if ! repo=$(get_pacman_repo_from_pkgbuild PKGBUILD); then
-				die 'Failed to get pacman repo'
-			fi
-			if [[ -z "${repo}" ]]; then
-				die 'Unknown repo, please specify --repo for new packages'
-			fi
 		fi
 
 		if (( TESTING )); then
diff --git a/src/lib/util/pacman.sh b/src/lib/util/pacman.sh
index 82a227b..620e1a8 100644
--- a/src/lib/util/pacman.sh
+++ b/src/lib/util/pacman.sh
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ get_pacman_repo_from_pkgbuild() {
 		return
 	fi
 
+	# update the pacman repo cache if it doesn't exist yet
+	if [[ ! -d "${_DEVTOOLS_PACMAN_CACHE_DIR}" ]]; then
+		update_pacman_repo_cache
+	fi
+
 	slock 10 "${_DEVTOOLS_PACMAN_CACHE_DIR}.lock" "Locking pacman database cache"
 	# query repo of passed pkgname, specify --nodeps twice to skip all dependency checks
 	mapfile -t repos < <(pacman --config "${_DEVTOOLS_PACMAN_CONF_DIR}/multilib.conf" \
@@ -47,7 +52,7 @@ get_pacman_repo_from_pkgbuild() {
 		--nodeps \
 		--print \
 		--print-format '%n %r' \
-		"${pkgnames[0]}" | awk '$1=="'"${pkgnames[0]}"'"{print $2}'
+		"${pkgnames[0]}" 2>/dev/null | awk '$1=="'"${pkgnames[0]}"'"{print $2}'
 	)
 	lock_close 10