diff --git a/app/client/start-https.sh b/app/client/start-https.sh
index 82762756db..50633878cd 100755
--- a/app/client/start-https.sh
+++ b/app/client/start-https.sh
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ if [[ ${backend-} == release ]]; then
   backend=https://release.app.appsmith.com
 fi
 
-if [[ $backend == https://release.app.appsmith.com ]]; then
+if [[ ${backend-} == https://release.app.appsmith.com ]]; then
   # If running client against release, we get the release's version and set it up, so we don't see version mismatches.
   APPSMITH_VERSION_ID="$(
     curl -sS "$backend/info" | grep -Eo '"version": ".+?"' | cut -d\" -f4