diff --git a/react-native-cli/index.js b/react-native-cli/index.js
index f367fefa8582c3..1580136cbf5a17 100755
--- a/react-native-cli/index.js
+++ b/react-native-cli/index.js
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ function run(root, projectName, rnPackage) {
 
     checkNodeVersion();
 
-    var cli = require(CLI_MODULE_PATH());
+    cli = require(CLI_MODULE_PATH());
     cli.init(root, projectName);
   });
 }