diff --git a/bench/cli.py b/bench/cli.py
index 9d354f31..112147b4 100644
--- a/bench/cli.py
+++ b/bench/cli.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ from .app import get_app as _get_app
 from .app import new_app as _new_app
 from .app import pull_all_apps
 from .config import generate_nginx_config, generate_supervisor_config
-from .release import release
 import os
 import sys
 import logging
@@ -180,6 +179,7 @@ def _prime_wheel_cache():
 @click.argument('bump-type', type=click.Choice(['major', 'minor', 'patch']))
 def _release(app, bump_type):
 	"Release app (internal to the Frappe team)"
+	from .release import release
 	repo = os.path.join('apps', app)
 	release(repo, bump_type)