diff --git a/boot/boot.js b/boot/boot.js
index 721cc47d1..61dd6b1d2 100644
--- a/boot/boot.js
+++ b/boot/boot.js
@@ -1481,6 +1481,10 @@ $tw.boot.startup = function(options) {
 		// System paths and filenames
 		$tw.boot.bootPath = path.dirname(module.filename);
 		$tw.boot.corePath = path.resolve($tw.boot.bootPath,"../core");
+		// If there's no arguments then default to `--help`
+		if($tw.boot.argv.length === 0) {
+			$tw.boot.argv = ["--help"];
+		}
 		// If the first command line argument doesn't start with `--` then we
 		// interpret it as the path to the wiki folder, which will otherwise default
 		// to the current folder
diff --git a/core/modules/startup.js b/core/modules/startup.js
index 832bbf163..26c590691 100755
--- a/core/modules/startup.js
+++ b/core/modules/startup.js
@@ -223,12 +223,8 @@ exports.startup = function() {
 		});
 	} else {
 		// On the server, start a commander with the command line arguments
-		var args = $tw.boot.argv;
-		if(args.length === 0) {
-			args = ["--help"];
-		}
 		commander = new $tw.Commander(
-			args,
+			$tw.boot.argv,
 			function(err) {
 				if(err) {
 					console.log("Error: " + err);