diff --git a/internal/commands/relationship.go b/internal/commands/relationship.go
index 69fd519..c6272f7 100644
--- a/internal/commands/relationship.go
+++ b/internal/commands/relationship.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ func RegisterRelationshipCmd(rootCmd *cobra.Command) *cobra.Command {
 	relationshipCmd.AddCommand(bulkDeleteCmd)
 	bulkDeleteCmd.Flags().Bool("force", false, "force deletion of all elements in batches defined by <optional-limit>")
 	bulkDeleteCmd.Flags().String("subject-filter", "", "optional subject filter")
-	bulkDeleteCmd.Flags().Uint("optional-limit", 1000, "the max amount of elements to delete. If you want to delete all in batches of size <optional-limit>, set --force to true")
+	bulkDeleteCmd.Flags().Uint32("optional-limit", 1000, "the max amount of elements to delete. If you want to delete all in batches of size <optional-limit>, set --force to true")
 	bulkDeleteCmd.Flags().Bool("estimate-count", true, "estimate the count of relationships to be deleted")
 	_ = bulkDeleteCmd.Flags().MarkDeprecated("estimate-count", "no longer used, make use of --optional-limit instead")
 	return relationshipCmd
@@ -133,12 +133,13 @@ func bulkDeleteRelationships(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	}()
 
 	allowPartialDeletions := cobrautil.MustGetBool(cmd, "force")
-	optionalLimit := cobrautil.MustGetUint(cmd, "optional-limit")
+	optionalLimit := cobrautil.MustGetUint32(cmd, "optional-limit")
+
 	var resp *v1.DeleteRelationshipsResponse
 	for {
 		delRequest := &v1.DeleteRelationshipsRequest{
 			RelationshipFilter:            filter,
-			OptionalLimit:                 uint32(optionalLimit),
+			OptionalLimit:                 optionalLimit,
 			OptionalAllowPartialDeletions: allowPartialDeletions,
 		}
 		log.Trace().Interface("request", delRequest).Msg("deleting relationships")
diff --git a/internal/commands/relationship_test.go b/internal/commands/relationship_test.go
index bdfe69a..dd3eff8 100644
--- a/internal/commands/relationship_test.go
+++ b/internal/commands/relationship_test.go
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ func TestBulkDeleteForcing(t *testing.T) {
 	client.NewClient = zedtesting.ClientFromConn(conn)
 	testCmd := zedtesting.CreateTestCobraCommandWithFlagValue(t,
 		zedtesting.StringFlag{FlagName: "subject-filter"},
-		zedtesting.UintFlag{FlagName: "optional-limit", FlagValue: 1},
+		zedtesting.UintFlag32{FlagName: "optional-limit", FlagValue: 1},
 		zedtesting.BoolFlag{FlagName: "force", FlagValue: true})
 	c, err := client.NewClient(testCmd)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ func TestBulkDeleteManyForcing(t *testing.T) {
 	client.NewClient = zedtesting.ClientFromConn(conn)
 	testCmd := zedtesting.CreateTestCobraCommandWithFlagValue(t,
 		zedtesting.StringFlag{FlagName: "subject-filter"},
-		zedtesting.UintFlag{FlagName: "optional-limit", FlagValue: 1},
+		zedtesting.UintFlag32{FlagName: "optional-limit", FlagValue: 1},
 		zedtesting.BoolFlag{FlagName: "force", FlagValue: true})
 	c, err := client.NewClient(testCmd)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -671,7 +671,7 @@ func TestBulkDeleteNotForcing(t *testing.T) {
 	client.NewClient = zedtesting.ClientFromConn(conn)
 	testCmd := zedtesting.CreateTestCobraCommandWithFlagValue(t,
 		zedtesting.StringFlag{FlagName: "subject-filter"},
-		zedtesting.UintFlag{FlagName: "optional-limit", FlagValue: 1},
+		zedtesting.UintFlag32{FlagName: "optional-limit", FlagValue: 1},
 		zedtesting.BoolFlag{FlagName: "force", FlagValue: false})
 	c, err := client.NewClient(testCmd)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
diff --git a/internal/testing/test_helpers.go b/internal/testing/test_helpers.go
index aa180c9..0370308 100644
--- a/internal/testing/test_helpers.go
+++ b/internal/testing/test_helpers.go
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ type UintFlag struct {
 	FlagValue uint
 }
 
+type UintFlag32 struct {
+	FlagName  string
+	FlagValue uint32
+}
+
 type DurationFlag struct {
 	FlagName  string
 	FlagValue time.Duration
@@ -100,6 +105,8 @@ func CreateTestCobraCommandWithFlagValue(t *testing.T, flagAndValues ...any) *co
 			c.Flags().Int(f.FlagName, f.FlagValue, "")
 		case UintFlag:
 			c.Flags().Uint(f.FlagName, f.FlagValue, "")
+		case UintFlag32:
+			c.Flags().Uint32(f.FlagName, f.FlagValue, "")
 		case DurationFlag:
 			c.Flags().Duration(f.FlagName, f.FlagValue, "")
 		default: