diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/javascript/README.md b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/javascript/README.md
index e275326a4243e..8b69061e1c153 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/javascript/README.md
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/javascript/README.md
@@ -7,6 +7,6 @@ The `cdk.json` file tells the CDK Toolkit how to execute your app. The build ste
 ## Useful commands
 
 * `npm run test`         perform the jest unit tests
-* `cdk deploy`           deploy this stack to your default AWS account/region
-* `cdk diff`             compare deployed stack with current state
-* `cdk synth`            emits the synthesized CloudFormation template
+* `npx cdk deploy`       deploy this stack to your default AWS account/region
+* `npx cdk diff`         compare deployed stack with current state
+* `npx cdk synth`        emits the synthesized CloudFormation template
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/README.md b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/README.md
index 320efc02a9275..9315fe5b9fc53 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/README.md
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/README.md
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ The `cdk.json` file tells the CDK Toolkit how to execute your app.
 * `npm run build`   compile typescript to js
 * `npm run watch`   watch for changes and compile
 * `npm run test`    perform the jest unit tests
-* `cdk deploy`      deploy this stack to your default AWS account/region
-* `cdk diff`        compare deployed stack with current state
-* `cdk synth`       emits the synthesized CloudFormation template
+* `npx cdk deploy`  deploy this stack to your default AWS account/region
+* `npx cdk diff`    compare deployed stack with current state
+* `npx cdk synth`   emits the synthesized CloudFormation template