diff --git a/plugin/build.gradle b/plugin/build.gradle
index 4e7cef70f23..47054277708 100644
--- a/plugin/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/build.gradle
@@ -55,11 +55,8 @@ configurations {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-  /*
-   * There appears to be a bug in maven-publish for project dependencies that set an archivesBaseName so this needs to be a runtime artifact
-   * dependency.
-   */
-  runtime "org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch-cli:${version}"
+  // CLI deps
+  compile project(path: ':core:cli', configuration: 'runtime')
 
   // security deps
   compile project(path: ':modules:transport-netty4', configuration: 'runtime')