diff --git a/.changeset/sweet-dingos-boil.md b/.changeset/sweet-dingos-boil.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8183e2afb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/sweet-dingos-boil.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"@rnx-kit/metro-service": patch
+"@rnx-kit/cli": patch
+---
+
+Use `node-fetch` only as fallback when current Node version doesn't implement Fetch API
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/serve/keyboard.ts b/packages/cli/src/serve/keyboard.ts
index 7d4d3c631..28cd0f646 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/serve/keyboard.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/serve/keyboard.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { info } from "@rnx-kit/console";
 import type { MetroTerminal } from "@rnx-kit/metro-service";
-import fetch from "node-fetch";
+import nodeFetch from "node-fetch";
 import qrcode from "qrcode";
 import readline from "readline";
 import type { DevServerMiddleware } from "./types";
@@ -43,7 +43,10 @@ export function attachKeyHandlers({
           break;
 
         case "j": {
-          fetch(devServerUrl + "/open-debugger", { method: "POST" });
+          info("Opening debugger...");
+          // TODO: Remove `node-fetch` when we drop support for Node 16
+          const ftch = "fetch" in globalThis ? fetch : nodeFetch;
+          ftch(devServerUrl + "/open-debugger", { method: "POST" });
           break;
         }
 
diff --git a/packages/metro-service/src/server.ts b/packages/metro-service/src/server.ts
index 4d3fb7440..be4424739 100644
--- a/packages/metro-service/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/metro-service/src/server.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { runServer } from "metro";
 import net from "net";
-import fetch from "node-fetch";
+import nodeFetch from "node-fetch";
 import { ensureBabelConfig } from "./babel";
 
 type ServerStatus = "not_running" | "already_running" | "in_use" | "unknown";
@@ -48,8 +48,10 @@ export async function isDevServerRunning(
       return "not_running";
     }
 
+    // TODO: Remove `node-fetch` when we drop support for Node 16
+    const ftch = "fetch" in globalThis ? fetch : nodeFetch;
     const statusUrl = `${scheme}://${host || "localhost"}:${port}/status`;
-    const statusResponse = await fetch(statusUrl);
+    const statusResponse = await ftch(statusUrl);
     const body = await statusResponse.text();
 
     return body === "packager-status:running" &&