diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/cdk.template.json b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/cdk.template.json
index e9b5bea306944..56015ef046a49 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/cdk.template.json
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/app/typescript/cdk.template.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "app": "npx ts-node --prefer-ts-exts bin/%name%.ts",
+  "app": "npx tsx bin/%name%.ts",
   "watch": {
     "include": ["**"],
     "exclude": [
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/sample-app/typescript/cdk.template.json b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/sample-app/typescript/cdk.template.json
index e9b5bea306944..56015ef046a49 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/sample-app/typescript/cdk.template.json
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/init-templates/sample-app/typescript/cdk.template.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "app": "npx ts-node --prefer-ts-exts bin/%name%.ts",
+  "app": "npx tsx bin/%name%.ts",
   "watch": {
     "include": ["**"],
     "exclude": [