diff --git a/studio/setup.ps1 b/studio/setup.ps1
index 3930ad686e..c768c066af 100644
--- a/studio/setup.ps1
+++ b/studio/setup.ps1
@@ -855,6 +855,7 @@ if ($IsPipInstall) {
         Write-Host "[INFO] Frontend source changed since last build -- rebuilding..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
     }
 }
+$NeedFrontendBuild = $true
 if ($NeedFrontendBuild -and -not $IsPipInstall) {
     Write-Host ""
     Write-Host "Building frontend..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
diff --git a/studio/setup.sh b/studio/setup.sh
index bc9b563be1..02c49afc15 100755
--- a/studio/setup.sh
+++ b/studio/setup.sh
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ if [ -d "$SCRIPT_DIR/frontend/dist" ]; then
         _NEED_FRONTEND_BUILD=false
     fi
 fi
+_NEED_FRONTEND_BUILD=true
 if [ "$_NEED_FRONTEND_BUILD" = false ]; then
     echo "✅ Frontend already built and up to date -- skipping Node/npm check."
 else