diff --git a/cmk/base/modes/__init__.py b/cmk/base/modes/__init__.py
index 17d5b01ca47..136e9a04f27 100644
--- a/cmk/base/modes/__init__.py
+++ b/cmk/base/modes/__init__.py
@@ -469,11 +469,6 @@ def get_sub_options(self, all_opts: Options) -> dict[OptionName, Argument | int
         return options
 
 
-keepalive_option = Option(
-    long_option="keepalive",
-    short_help="Execute in keepalive mode (CEE only)",
-)
-
 #
 # Initialize the modes object and load all available modes
 #
diff --git a/cmk/base/modes/check_mk.py b/cmk/base/modes/check_mk.py
index 6274a6a3554..9b4d7d6c9a5 100644
--- a/cmk/base/modes/check_mk.py
+++ b/cmk/base/modes/check_mk.py
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@
 )
 from cmk.base.core_factory import create_core, get_licensing_handler_type
 from cmk.base.errorhandling import CheckResultErrorHandler, create_section_crash_dump
-from cmk.base.modes import keepalive_option, Mode, modes, Option
+from cmk.base.modes import Mode, modes, Option
 from cmk.base.sources import make_parser, SNMPFetcherConfig
 from cmk.base.utils import register_sigint_handler
 
@@ -1800,7 +1800,10 @@ def ensure_nagios(msg: str) -> None:
                 long_option="log-to-stdout",
                 short_help="Also write log messages to console",
             ),
-            keepalive_option,
+            Option(
+                long_option="keepalive",
+                short_help="Execute in keepalive mode (CEE only)",
+            ),
         ],
     )
 )