diff --git a/cmd/src/code_intel_upload.go b/cmd/src/code_intel_upload.go
index 8030b31a9a..dfc7a9190e 100644
--- a/cmd/src/code_intel_upload.go
+++ b/cmd/src/code_intel_upload.go
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/lib/codeintel/upload"
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/lib/errors"
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/lib/output"
-
-	"github.com/sourcegraph/src-cli/internal/api"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -76,10 +74,7 @@ func handleCodeIntelUpload(args []string) error {
 		return handleUploadError(cfg.AccessToken, err)
 	}
 
-	client := api.NewClient(api.ClientOpts{
-		Out:   io.Discard,
-		Flags: codeintelUploadFlags.apiFlags,
-	})
+	client := cfg.apiClient(codeintelUploadFlags.apiFlags, io.Discard)
 
 	uploadOptions := codeintelUploadOptions(out)
 	var uploadID int