diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index f8df8451..2c47bfc5 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ jobs:
           command: |
             sudo apt-get update
             sudo apt-get install -y xvfb tor obfs4proxy gcc python3-dev
+            cd ~/repo/cli
+            poetry install
+            poetry build
+            cp dist/onionshare_cli-*.whl ~/repo/desktop
             cd ~/repo/desktop
             pip install briefcase pytest pytest-briefcase pytest-faulthandler pytest-qt
             pip install $(python -c 'import toml; print(" ".join(toml.loads(open("pyproject.toml").read())["tool"]["briefcase"]["app"]["onionshare"]["requires"]))')
diff --git a/desktop/README.md b/desktop/README.md
index b1b36956..cf3c4113 100644
--- a/desktop/README.md
+++ b/desktop/README.md
@@ -34,7 +34,15 @@ python scripts\get-tor-windows.py
 
 ### Prepare the code
 
-#### All platforms
+In order to work with the desktop app, you'll need to build a wheel of the CLI package first, and copy it into the `desktop` folder:
+
+```sh
+cd ../cli
+poetry install
+poetry build
+cp dist/onionshare_cli-*.whl ../desktop
+cd ../desktop
+```
 
 OnionShare uses [Briefcase](https://briefcase.readthedocs.io/en/latest/).
 
@@ -42,21 +50,16 @@ Install Briefcase dependencies by following [these instructions](https://docs.be
 
 Now create and/or activate a virtual environment.
 
-#### Linux and macOS
-
-```
-python3 -m venv venv
-. venv/bin/activate
-```
-
-#### Windows
-
-```
-python -m venv venv
-venv\Scripts\activate.bat
-```
-
-#### All platforms
+* Linux and macOS
+    ```
+    python3 -m venv venv
+    . venv/bin/activate
+    ```
+* Windows
+    ```
+    python -m venv venv
+    venv\Scripts\activate.bat
+    ```
 
 While your virtual environment is active, install briefcase from pip.