diff --git a/RNTester/android/app/build.gradle b/RNTester/android/app/build.gradle
index 2391ab56a9b6d5..ee86770ede2e4e 100644
--- a/RNTester/android/app/build.gradle
+++ b/RNTester/android/app/build.gradle
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ plugins {
  */
 
 project.ext.react = [
+    cliPath: "$rootDir/cli.js",
     bundleAssetName: "RNTesterApp.android.bundle",
     entryFile: file("../../js/RNTesterApp.android.js"),
     root: "$rootDir",
diff --git a/react.gradle b/react.gradle
index d886a9b986b468..3f6a550b79dcbd 100644
--- a/react.gradle
+++ b/react.gradle
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ afterEvaluate {
                 execCommand.addAll([*nodeExecutableAndArgs, cliPath])
             }
         } else {
-            execCommand.addAll([npx, "react-native"])
+            throw new Exception("Missing cliPath or nodeExecutableAndArgs from build config. " +
+                "Please set project.ext.react.cliPath to the path of the react-native cli.js");
         }
 
         def enableHermes = enableHermesForVariant(variant)