diff --git a/src/borg/archiver/debug_cmd.py b/src/borg/archiver/debug_cmd.py
index cb3706dd0..08e5a9a28 100644
--- a/src/borg/archiver/debug_cmd.py
+++ b/src/borg/archiver/debug_cmd.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import argparse
 from binascii import unhexlify, hexlify
 import functools
-import hashlib
 import json
 import textwrap
 
@@ -241,28 +240,36 @@ class DebugMixIn:
         hex_id = args.id
         try:
             id = unhexlify(hex_id)
-        except ValueError:
-            print("object id %s is invalid." % hex_id)
-        else:
-            try:
-                data = repository.get(id)
-            except Repository.ObjectNotFound:
-                print("object %s not found." % hex_id)
-            else:
-                with open(args.path, "wb") as f:
-                    f.write(data)
-                print("object %s fetched." % hex_id)
+            if len(id) != 32:  # 256bit
+                raise ValueError("id must be 256bits or 64 hex digits")
+        except ValueError as err:
+            print("object id %s is invalid [%s]." % (hex_id, str(err)))
+            return EXIT_ERROR
+        try:
+            data = repository.get(id)
+        except Repository.ObjectNotFound:
+            print("object %s not found." % hex_id)
+            return EXIT_ERROR
+        with open(args.path, "wb") as f:
+            f.write(data)
+        print("object %s fetched." % hex_id)
         return EXIT_SUCCESS
 
     @with_repository(manifest=False, exclusive=True)
     def do_debug_put_obj(self, args, repository):
-        """put file(s) contents into the repository"""
-        for path in args.paths:
-            with open(path, "rb") as f:
-                data = f.read()
-            h = hashlib.sha256(data)  # XXX hardcoded
-            repository.put(h.digest(), data)
-            print("object %s put." % h.hexdigest())
+        """put file contents into the repository"""
+        with open(args.path, "rb") as f:
+            data = f.read()
+        hex_id = args.id
+        try:
+            id = unhexlify(hex_id)
+            if len(id) != 32:  # 256bit
+                raise ValueError("id must be 256bits or 64 hex digits")
+        except ValueError as err:
+            print("object id %s is invalid [%s]." % (hex_id, str(err)))
+            return EXIT_ERROR
+        repository.put(id, data)
+        print("object %s put." % hex_id)
         repository.commit(compact=False)
         return EXIT_SUCCESS
 
@@ -503,7 +510,7 @@ class DebugMixIn:
 
         debug_put_obj_epilog = process_epilog(
             """
-        This command puts objects into the repository.
+        This command puts an object into the repository.
         """
         )
         subparser = debug_parsers.add_parser(
@@ -516,9 +523,8 @@ class DebugMixIn:
             help="put object to repository (debug)",
         )
         subparser.set_defaults(func=self.do_debug_put_obj)
-        subparser.add_argument(
-            "paths", metavar="PATH", nargs="+", type=str, help="file(s) to read and create object(s) from"
-        )
+        subparser.add_argument("id", metavar="ID", type=str, help="hex object ID to put into the repo")
+        subparser.add_argument("path", metavar="PATH", type=str, help="file to read and create object from")
 
         debug_delete_obj_epilog = process_epilog(
             """
diff --git a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/debug_cmds.py b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/debug_cmds.py
index 3fc8278d9..21f72a2f9 100644
--- a/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/debug_cmds.py
+++ b/src/borg/testsuite/archiver/debug_cmds.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import json
 import os
 import pstats
 import unittest
-from hashlib import sha256
 
 from ...constants import *  # NOQA
 from .. import changedir
@@ -47,18 +46,19 @@ class ArchiverTestCase(ArchiverTestCaseBase):
     def test_debug_put_get_delete_obj(self):
         self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "rcreate", RK_ENCRYPTION)
         data = b"some data"
-        hexkey = sha256(data).hexdigest()
         self.create_regular_file("file", contents=data)
-        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "put-obj", "input/file")
-        assert hexkey in output
-        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "get-obj", hexkey, "output/file")
-        assert hexkey in output
+        # TODO: to compute the correct hexkey, we need: borg debug id-hash file
+        id_hash = "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef"  # 256bit = 64 hex digits
+        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "put-obj", id_hash, "input/file")
+        assert id_hash in output
+        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "get-obj", id_hash, "output/file")
+        assert id_hash in output
         with open("output/file", "rb") as f:
             data_read = f.read()
         assert data == data_read
-        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "delete-obj", hexkey)
+        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "delete-obj", id_hash)
         assert "deleted" in output
-        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "delete-obj", hexkey)
+        output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "delete-obj", id_hash)
         assert "not found" in output
         output = self.cmd(f"--repo={self.repository_location}", "debug", "delete-obj", "invalid")
         assert "is invalid" in output