diff --git a/packages/next/src/cli/next-dev.ts b/packages/next/src/cli/next-dev.ts
index 549e75bdee751..442e1ed5fa36d 100644
--- a/packages/next/src/cli/next-dev.ts
+++ b/packages/next/src/cli/next-dev.ts
@@ -161,6 +161,15 @@ const nextDev = async (
   portSource: PortSource,
   directory?: string
 ) => {
+  const isTurbopack = Boolean(
+    options.turbo || options.turbopack || process.env.IS_TURBOPACK_TEST
+  )
+  if (isTurbopack) {
+    process.env.TURBOPACK = '1'
+  }
+
+  isTurboSession = isTurbopack
+
   dir = getProjectDir(process.env.NEXT_PRIVATE_DEV_DIR || directory)
 
   // Check if pages dir exists and warn if not
@@ -238,15 +247,6 @@ const nextDev = async (
     hostname: host,
   }
 
-  const isTurbopack = Boolean(
-    options.turbo || options.turbopack || process.env.IS_TURBOPACK_TEST
-  )
-  if (isTurbopack) {
-    process.env.TURBOPACK = '1'
-  }
-
-  isTurboSession = isTurbopack
-
   const distDir = path.join(dir, config.distDir ?? '.next')
   setGlobal('phase', PHASE_DEVELOPMENT_SERVER)
   setGlobal('distDir', distDir)