diff --git a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
index 08bdf73614..39d6d86943 100644
--- a/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
+++ b/cli-plugins/plugin/plugin.go
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ func Run(makeCmd func(command.Cli) *cobra.Command, meta metadata.Metadata) {
 }
 
 func withPluginClientConn(name string) command.CLIOption {
-	return command.WithInitializeClient(func(dockerCli *command.DockerCli) (client.APIClient, error) {
+	return func(cli *command.DockerCli) error {
 		cmd := "docker"
 		if x := os.Getenv(metadata.ReexecEnvvar); x != "" {
 			cmd = x
@@ -133,11 +133,14 @@ func withPluginClientConn(name string) command.CLIOption {
 
 		helper, err := connhelper.GetCommandConnectionHelper(cmd, flags...)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
+			return err
 		}
-
-		return client.NewClientWithOpts(client.WithDialContext(helper.Dialer))
-	})
+		apiClient, err := client.NewClientWithOpts(client.WithDialContext(helper.Dialer))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return command.WithAPIClient(apiClient)(cli)
+	}
 }
 
 func newPluginCommand(dockerCli *command.DockerCli, plugin *cobra.Command, meta metadata.Metadata) *cli.TopLevelCommand {
diff --git a/cli/command/cli.go b/cli/command/cli.go
index 7b2bb63b58..b78525bc82 100644
--- a/cli/command/cli.go
+++ b/cli/command/cli.go
@@ -222,15 +222,6 @@ func (cli *DockerCli) HooksEnabled() bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-// WithInitializeClient is passed to DockerCli.Initialize by callers who wish to set a particular API Client for use by the CLI.
-func WithInitializeClient(makeClient func(dockerCli *DockerCli) (client.APIClient, error)) CLIOption {
-	return func(dockerCli *DockerCli) error {
-		var err error
-		dockerCli.client, err = makeClient(dockerCli)
-		return err
-	}
-}
-
 // Initialize the dockerCli runs initialization that must happen after command
 // line flags are parsed.
 func (cli *DockerCli) Initialize(opts *cliflags.ClientOptions, ops ...CLIOption) error {
diff --git a/cli/command/cli_options.go b/cli/command/cli_options.go
index 5d0a8ee3a6..dd3c947336 100644
--- a/cli/command/cli_options.go
+++ b/cli/command/cli_options.go
@@ -114,6 +114,18 @@ func WithAPIClient(c client.APIClient) CLIOption {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithInitializeClient is passed to [DockerCli.Initialize] to initialize
+// an API Client for use by the CLI.
+func WithInitializeClient(makeClient func(*DockerCli) (client.APIClient, error)) CLIOption {
+	return func(cli *DockerCli) error {
+		c, err := makeClient(cli)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return WithAPIClient(c)(cli)
+	}
+}
+
 // envOverrideHTTPHeaders is the name of the environment-variable that can be
 // used to set custom HTTP headers to be sent by the client. This environment
 // variable is the equivalent to the HttpHeaders field in the configuration