diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/args.py b/src/axolotl/cli/args.py
index 4be3704ac..b859b99c8 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/args.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/args.py
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ class TrainerCliArgs:
     debug: bool = field(default=False)
     debug_text_only: bool = field(default=False)
     debug_num_examples: int = field(default=0)
-    merge_lora: bool = field(default=False)
     prompter: Optional[str] = field(default=None)
     shard: bool = field(default=False)
     main_process_port: Optional[int] = field(default=None)
diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/merge_lora.py b/src/axolotl/cli/merge_lora.py
index 2e59d2537..36cfdec4e 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/merge_lora.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/merge_lora.py
@@ -4,10 +4,8 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Union
 
 import fire
-import transformers
 from dotenv import load_dotenv
 
-from axolotl.cli.args import TrainerCliArgs
 from axolotl.cli.art import print_axolotl_text_art
 from axolotl.cli.config import load_cfg
 from axolotl.cli.utils import load_model_and_tokenizer
@@ -68,12 +66,6 @@ def do_cli(config: Union[Path, str] = Path("examples/"), **kwargs) -> None:
     Raises:
         ValueError: If target directory for LoRA merged model does not exist.
     """
-    # pylint: disable=duplicate-code
-    parser = transformers.HfArgumentParser(TrainerCliArgs)
-    parsed_cli_args, _ = parser.parse_args_into_dataclasses(
-        return_remaining_strings=True
-    )
-    parsed_cli_args.merge_lora = True
 
     parsed_cfg = load_cfg(
         config,
diff --git a/src/axolotl/cli/merge_sharded_fsdp_weights.py b/src/axolotl/cli/merge_sharded_fsdp_weights.py
index 297d7946e..2480b551d 100644
--- a/src/axolotl/cli/merge_sharded_fsdp_weights.py
+++ b/src/axolotl/cli/merge_sharded_fsdp_weights.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import fire
 import torch
 import torch.distributed.checkpoint as dist_cp
 import torch.distributed.checkpoint.format_utils as dist_cp_format_utils
-import transformers
 from accelerate.utils import (
     SAFE_WEIGHTS_INDEX_NAME,
     SAFE_WEIGHTS_NAME,
@@ -23,7 +22,6 @@ from huggingface_hub import split_torch_state_dict_into_shards
 from safetensors.torch import save_file as safe_save_file
 from torch.distributed.checkpoint.format_utils import _EmptyStateDictLoadPlanner
 
-from axolotl.cli.args import TrainerCliArgs
 from axolotl.cli.art import print_axolotl_text_art
 from axolotl.cli.config import load_cfg
 from axolotl.utils.logging import get_logger
@@ -197,11 +195,6 @@ def do_cli(config: Union[Path, str] = Path("examples/"), **kwargs):
     """
     # pylint: disable=duplicate-code
     print_axolotl_text_art()
-    parser = transformers.HfArgumentParser(TrainerCliArgs)
-    parsed_cli_args, _ = parser.parse_args_into_dataclasses(
-        return_remaining_strings=True
-    )
-    parsed_cli_args.merge_lora = True
     parsed_cfg = load_cfg(config, **kwargs)
 
     fsdp_dir = Path(parsed_cfg.output_dir) / "pytorch_model_fsdp_0"