diff --git a/cmd/signald-cli/cmd/root.go b/cmd/signald-cli/cmd/root.go
index 6dd8b2d..9a96616 100644
--- a/cmd/signald-cli/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/signald-cli/cmd/root.go
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "signald-cli",
 	Short: "Interact with a running siangld instance",
 	Long:  `signald-cli is a command line tool to interact with signald.`,
+	PersistentPreRun: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+		s = &signald.Signald{SocketPath: socketPath}
+		err := s.Connect()
+		if err != nil {
+			log.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	},
 }
 
 // Execute adds all child commands to the root command sets flags appropriately.
@@ -50,12 +57,6 @@ func init() {
 	cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig)
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&cfgFile, "config", "", "config file (default is $HOME/.signald-cli.yaml)")
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&socketPath, "socket", "s", "/var/run/signald/signald.sock", "the path to the signald socket file")
-	s = &signald.Signald{SocketPath: socketPath}
-	err := s.Connect()
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatal(err)
-	}
-
 }
 
 // initConfig reads in config file and ENV variables if set.