diff --git a/local-cli/util/Config.js b/local-cli/util/Config.js
index 3609dec7f4bb2f..b799c97fcf1ffc 100644
--- a/local-cli/util/Config.js
+++ b/local-cli/util/Config.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const {loadConfig} = require('metro-config');
  */
 import type {ConfigT} from 'metro-config/src/configTypes.flow';
 
-function getProjectPath() {
+function getProjectRoot() {
   if (
     __dirname.match(/node_modules[\/\\]react-native[\/\\]local-cli[\/\\]util$/)
   ) {
@@ -51,12 +51,12 @@ const resolveSymlinksForRoots = roots =>
     [...roots],
   );
 
-const getProjectRoots = () => {
+const getWatchFolders = () => {
   const root = process.env.REACT_NATIVE_APP_ROOT;
   if (root) {
     return resolveSymlinksForRoots([path.resolve(root)]);
   }
-  return resolveSymlinksForRoots([getProjectPath()]);
+  return [];
 };
 
 const getBlacklistRE = () => {
@@ -83,17 +83,15 @@ const Config = {
       ],
       getPolyfills,
     },
-
-    watchFolders: [getProjectPath(), ...getProjectRoots()],
+    watchFolders: getWatchFolders(),
     transformModulePath: require.resolve('metro/src/reactNativeTransformer'),
   },
 
-  getProjectPath,
-  getProjectRoots,
-
   async load(configFile: ?string): Promise<ConfigT> {
+    const argv = {cwd: getProjectRoot()};
+
     return await loadConfig(
-      configFile ? {config: configFile} : {},
+      configFile ? {...argv, config: configFile} : argv,
       this.DEFAULT,
     );
   },