diff --git a/.ci/manywheel/build_common.sh b/.ci/manywheel/build_common.sh
index f70b8df4149c..74ce994207d4 100644
--- a/.ci/manywheel/build_common.sh
+++ b/.ci/manywheel/build_common.sh
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ if [[ "$USE_SPLIT_BUILD" == "true" ]]; then
     BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL=0 BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY=1 \
     BUILD_LIBTORCH_CPU_WITH_DEBUG=$BUILD_DEBUG_INFO \
     USE_NCCL=${USE_NCCL} USE_RCCL=${USE_RCCL} USE_KINETO=${USE_KINETO} \
-    python setup.py bdist_wheel -d /tmp/$WHEELHOUSE_DIR --cmake
+    CMAKE_FRESH=1 python setup.py bdist_wheel -d /tmp/$WHEELHOUSE_DIR
     echo "Finished setup.py bdist_wheel for split build (BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY)"
 else
     time CMAKE_ARGS=${CMAKE_ARGS[@]} \
diff --git a/.ci/wheel/build_wheel.sh b/.ci/wheel/build_wheel.sh
index b6b0d978cc23..76206d9937ef 100755
--- a/.ci/wheel/build_wheel.sh
+++ b/.ci/wheel/build_wheel.sh
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ if [[ "$USE_SPLIT_BUILD" == "true" ]]; then
     BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL=1 BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY=0 python setup.py bdist_wheel -d "$whl_tmp_dir"
     echo "Finished setup.py bdist_wheel for split build (BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL)"
     echo "Calling setup.py bdist_wheel for split build (BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY)"
-    BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY=1 BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL=0 python setup.py bdist_wheel -d "$whl_tmp_dir" --cmake
+    BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL=0 BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY=1 CMAKE_FRESH=1 python setup.py bdist_wheel -d "$whl_tmp_dir"
     echo "Finished setup.py bdist_wheel for split build (BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY)"
 else
     python setup.py bdist_wheel -d "$whl_tmp_dir"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d5c9d019c518..149b65711656 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -384,14 +384,14 @@ with such a step.
 On Linux
 ```bash
 export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="${CONDA_PREFIX:-'$(dirname $(which conda))/../'}:${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}"
-python setup.py build --cmake-only
+CMAKE_ONLY=1 python setup.py build
 ccmake build  # or cmake-gui build
 ```
 
 On macOS
 ```bash
 export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="${CONDA_PREFIX:-'$(dirname $(which conda))/../'}:${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH}"
-MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.9 CC=clang CXX=clang++ python setup.py build --cmake-only
+MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.9 CC=clang CXX=clang++ CMAKE_ONLY=1 python setup.py build
 ccmake build  # or cmake-gui build
 ```
 
diff --git a/benchmarks/sparse/test_csr.sh b/benchmarks/sparse/test_csr.sh
index 7bd43d08d901..e22c2df6ee54 100644
--- a/benchmarks/sparse/test_csr.sh
+++ b/benchmarks/sparse/test_csr.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ echo "----- USE_MKL=1 -----" >> $OUTFILE
 rm -rf build
 
 export USE_MKL=1
-python setup.py build --cmake-only
+CMAKE_ONLY=1 python setup.py build
 ccmake build  # or cmake-gui build
 
 python setup.py install
diff --git a/cmake/Dependencies.cmake b/cmake/Dependencies.cmake
index e94401b5ca15..fac87cb3c11b 100644
--- a/cmake/Dependencies.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Dependencies.cmake
@@ -1670,7 +1670,10 @@ if(USE_KINETO)
   }" EXCEPTIONS_WORK)
         set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_LINK_OPTIONS "")
         if(NOT EXCEPTIONS_WORK)
-          message(FATAL_ERROR "Detected that statically linking against CUPTI causes exceptions to stop working.  See https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/issues/57744 for more details.  Perhaps try: USE_CUPTI_SO=1 python setup.py develop --cmake")
+          message(FATAL_ERROR
+            "Detected that statically linking against CUPTI causes exceptions to stop working. "
+            "See https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/issues/57744 for more details. "
+            "Perhaps try: USE_CUPTI_SO=1 CMAKE_FRESH=1 python setup.py develop")
         endif()
       endif()
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e5ff9a426b53..26bfb0a8fd2f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1162,7 +1162,7 @@ build_update_message = """
     To develop locally:
       $ python setup.py develop
     To force cmake to re-generate native build files (off by default):
-      $ python setup.py develop --cmake
+      $ CMAKE_FRESH=1 python setup.py develop
 """
 
 
diff --git a/test/cpp/tensorexpr/README.md b/test/cpp/tensorexpr/README.md
index 055d2201b009..f86a50a65e80 100644
--- a/test/cpp/tensorexpr/README.md
+++ b/test/cpp/tensorexpr/README.md
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ We glob all the test files together in `CMakeLists.txt` so that you don't
 have to edit it every time you add a test. Unfortunately, this means that in
 order to get the build to pick up your new test file, you need to re-run
 cmake:
-```
-python setup.py build --cmake
+```bash
+CMAKE_FRESH=1 python setup.py build
 ```
 
 ## How do I run the tests?
diff --git a/tools/linter/clang_tidy/generate_build_files.py b/tools/linter/clang_tidy/generate_build_files.py
index af322e754b87..157b36d2257a 100644
--- a/tools/linter/clang_tidy/generate_build_files.py
+++ b/tools/linter/clang_tidy/generate_build_files.py
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ def gen_compile_commands() -> None:
     os.environ["USE_PRECOMPILED_HEADERS"] = "1"
     os.environ["CC"] = "clang"
     os.environ["CXX"] = "clang++"
-    run_cmd([sys.executable, "setup.py", "--cmake-only", "build"])
+    os.environ["CMAKE_ONLY"] = "1"
+    run_cmd([sys.executable, "setup.py", "build"])
 
 
 def run_autogen() -> None:
diff --git a/tools/packaging/split_wheel.py b/tools/packaging/split_wheel.py
index 1aa77aa5c694..fd52c39a22b0 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/split_wheel.py
+++ b/tools/packaging/split_wheel.py
@@ -76,11 +76,15 @@ def split_build(cmd: str) -> None:
         extra_env={"BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL": "1", "BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY": "0"},
     )
     logger.info("Running %s for torch wheel", cmd)
-    # NOTE: Passing --cmake is necessary here since the torch frontend has it's
+    # NOTE: Passing CMAKE_FRESH=1 is necessary here since the torch frontend has it's
     # own cmake files that it needs to generate
     setup_py(
-        [cmd, "--cmake"],
-        extra_env={"BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL": "0", "BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY": "1"},
+        [cmd],
+        extra_env={
+            "BUILD_LIBTORCH_WHL": "0",
+            "BUILD_PYTHON_ONLY": "1",
+            "CMAKE_FRESH": "1",
+        },
     )