diff --git a/packages/agoric-cli/package.json b/packages/agoric-cli/package.json
index 70a4297ab28..fce1cc4c067 100644
--- a/packages/agoric-cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/agoric-cli/package.json
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@
     "commander": "^10.0.0",
     "dd-trace": "^3.3.0",
     "deterministic-json": "^1.0.5",
-    "esm": "agoric-labs/esm#Agoric-built",
     "inquirer": "^8.2.2",
     "opener": "^1.5.2",
     "tmp": "^0.2.1",
diff --git a/packages/agoric-cli/src/entrypoint.js b/packages/agoric-cli/src/entrypoint.js
index 942a040d1bf..dacf5e47f96 100755
--- a/packages/agoric-cli/src/entrypoint.js
+++ b/packages/agoric-cli/src/entrypoint.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 /* global process */
 
 import '@endo/init/pre.js';
-import 'esm';
 import '@agoric/casting/node-fetch-shim.js';
 import '@endo/init';
 
diff --git a/packages/agoric-cli/src/scripts.js b/packages/agoric-cli/src/scripts.js
index 54857b5d7e3..7f0ca5ce655 100644
--- a/packages/agoric-cli/src/scripts.js
+++ b/packages/agoric-cli/src/scripts.js
@@ -4,13 +4,11 @@ import bundleSource from '@endo/bundle-source';
 import { E } from '@endo/captp';
 import { search as readContainingPackageDescriptor } from '@endo/compartment-mapper';
 
-import createEsmRequire from 'esm';
 import { createRequire } from 'module';
 import path from 'path';
 import url from 'url';
 
 const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
-const esmRequire = createEsmRequire(/** @type {NodeModule} */ ({}));
 
 const PATH_SEP_RE = new RegExp(`${path.sep.replace(/\\/g, '\\\\')}`, 'g');
 
@@ -154,9 +152,9 @@ export { bootPlugin } from ${JSON.stringify(absPath)};
       );
 
       const modulePath = pathResolve(moduleFile);
-      let mainNS = await (nativeEsm && import(modulePath));
+      const mainNS = await (nativeEsm && import(modulePath));
       if (!mainNS) {
-        mainNS = esmRequire(modulePath);
+        throw Error('standardthings/esm emulation disabled');
       }
 
       const allEndowments = harden({
diff --git a/packages/agoric-cli/test/test-main.js b/packages/agoric-cli/test/test-main.js
index 88219733fae..e61dc104ce6 100644
--- a/packages/agoric-cli/test/test-main.js
+++ b/packages/agoric-cli/test/test-main.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 /* global globalThis */
 import '@agoric/casting/node-fetch-shim.js';
 import '@endo/init/pre.js';
-import 'esm';
 import '@endo/init/debug.js';
 import test from 'ava';
 import fs from 'fs';