diff --git a/jenkins.sh b/jenkins.sh
index 2f9d8ce52..3a4ee0c70 100755
--- a/jenkins.sh
+++ b/jenkins.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ set -x
 
 npm install
 
+# apparently npm 3.10.3 on node 6.4.0 doesn't upgrade #develop target with npm install unless explicitly asked.
+npm install matrix-react-sdk matrix-js-sdk
+
 # we may be using a dev branch of react-sdk, in which case we need to build it
 (cd node_modules/matrix-react-sdk && npm run build)