diff --git a/common.mk b/common.mk
index d0b11fe3..80565a37 100644
--- a/common.mk
+++ b/common.mk
@@ -218,6 +218,14 @@ dramsim_lib = $(dramsim_dir)/libdramsim.a
 $(dramsim_lib):
 	$(MAKE) -C $(dramsim_dir) $(notdir $@)
 
+#######################################
+# Helper to run SBT                   #
+#######################################
+
+.PHONY: launch-sbt
+launch-sbt:
+	cd $(base_dir) && $(SBT)
+
 #########################################################################################
 # print help text
 #########################################################################################
diff --git a/variables.mk b/variables.mk
index 2828366c..42dc48c5 100644
--- a/variables.mk
+++ b/variables.mk
@@ -151,9 +151,6 @@ JAVA_ARGS ?= -Xmx$(JAVA_HEAP_SIZE) -Xss8M -XX:MaxPermSize=256M
 #########################################################################################
 # default sbt launch command
 #########################################################################################
-SCALA_VERSION=2.12.10
-SCALA_VERSION_MAJOR=$(basename $(SCALA_VERSION))
-SBT ?= java $(JAVA_ARGS) -jar $(ROCKETCHIP_DIR)/sbt-launch.jar
 # Running with sbt-launch.jar doesn't read .sbtopts by default
 # # Set if the file exists (if it exists, we're building chisel3 and firrtl from source)
 sbtopts_file := $(base_dir)/.sbtopts
@@ -161,6 +158,10 @@ ifneq (,$(wildcard $(sbtopts_file)))
 	SBT_OPTS ?= $(shell cat $(sbtopts_file))
 endif
 
+SCALA_VERSION=2.12.10
+SCALA_VERSION_MAJOR=$(basename $(SCALA_VERSION))
+SBT ?= java $(JAVA_ARGS) -jar $(ROCKETCHIP_DIR)/sbt-launch.jar $(SBT_OPTS)
+
 BLOOP ?= bloop
 BLOOP_CONFIG_DIR ?= $(base_dir)/.bloop
 # This mirrors the bloop default. Set to a system-unique port in a multi-user environment
@@ -182,7 +183,7 @@ define run_scala_main
 endef
 else
 define run_scala_main
-	cd $(base_dir) && $(SBT) $(SBT_OPTS) "project $(1)" "runMain $(2) $(3)"
+	cd $(base_dir) && $(SBT) "project $(1)" "runMain $(2) $(3)"
 endef
 endif