diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a1430d99cee12..7fd66ad2acada 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@
     "elasticsearch-browser": "^14.2.1",
     "encode-uri-query": "1.0.0",
     "even-better": "7.0.2",
+    "execa": "^0.10.0",
     "expiry-js": "0.1.7",
     "extract-text-webpack-plugin": "3.0.1",
     "fetch-mock": "^5.13.1",
diff --git a/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js b/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js
index d14f9a83d7304..0758a760bf82e 100644
--- a/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js
+++ b/src/cli_plugin/install/kibana.js
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-import _ from 'lodash';
 import path from 'path';
-import { fromRoot } from '../../utils';
-import KbnServer from '../../server/kbn_server';
-import { readYamlConfig } from '../../cli/serve/read_yaml_config';
+import execa from 'execa';
+import { fromRoot, watchStdioForLine } from '../../utils';
 import { versionSatisfies, cleanVersion } from '../../utils/version';
 import { statSync } from 'fs';
 
@@ -19,34 +17,22 @@ export function existingInstall(settings, logger) {
 
 export async function rebuildCache(settings, logger) {
   logger.log('Optimizing and caching browser bundles...');
-  const serverConfig = _.merge(
-    readYamlConfig(settings.config),
-    {
-      env: 'production',
-      logging: {
-        silent: settings.silent,
-        quiet: !settings.silent,
-        verbose: false
-      },
-      optimize: {
-        useBundleCache: false
-      },
-      server: {
-        autoListen: false
-      },
-      plugins: {
-        initialize: false,
-        scanDirs: [settings.pluginDir, fromRoot('src/core_plugins')]
-      },
-      uiSettings: {
-        enabled: false
-      }
-    }
-  );
-
-  const kbnServer = new KbnServer(serverConfig);
-  await kbnServer.ready();
-  await kbnServer.close();
+
+  const kibanaArgs = [
+    fromRoot('./src/cli'),
+    '--env.name=production',
+    '--optimize.useBundleCache=false',
+    '--server.autoListen=false',
+    '--plugins.initialize=false',
+    '--uiSettings.enabled=false'
+  ];
+
+  const proc = execa(process.execPath, kibanaArgs, {
+    stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
+    cwd: fromRoot('.'),
+  });
+
+  await watchStdioForLine(proc, () => {}, /Optimization .+ complete/);
 }
 
 export function assertVersion(settings) {
diff --git a/src/dev/build/lib/__tests__/exec.js b/src/dev/build/lib/__tests__/exec.js
index 57f05bdf7505e..752af5482aafa 100644
--- a/src/dev/build/lib/__tests__/exec.js
+++ b/src/dev/build/lib/__tests__/exec.js
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import { resolve } from 'path';
-
 import sinon from 'sinon';
 import stripAnsi from 'strip-ansi';
 
@@ -32,31 +30,4 @@ describe('dev/build/lib/exec', () => {
     // log output of the process
     sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(onLogLine, sinon.match(/info\s+hi/));
   });
-
-  it('send the proc SIGKILL if it logs a line matching exitAfter regexp', async function () {
-    // fixture proc will exit after 10 seconds if sigint not received, but the test won't fail
-    // unless we see the log line `SIGINT not received`, so we let the test take up to 30 seconds
-    // for potentially huge delays here and there
-    this.timeout(30000);
-
-    await exec(log, process.execPath, [require.resolve('./fixtures/log_on_sigint')], {
-      exitAfter: /listening for SIGINT/
-    });
-
-    sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(onLogLine, sinon.match(/listening for SIGINT/));
-    sinon.assert.neverCalledWith(onLogLine, sinon.match(/SIGINT not received/));
-  });
-
-  it('logs using level: option', async () => {
-    const parentDir = resolve(process.cwd(), '..');
-
-    await exec(log, process.execPath, ['-e', 'console.log(process.cwd())'], {
-      level: 'info',
-      cwd: parentDir,
-    });
-
-    // log output of the process, checking for \n to ensure cwd() doesn't log
-    // the subdir that this process is executing in
-    sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(onLogLine, sinon.match(parentDir + '\n'));
-  });
-});
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/dev/build/lib/exec.js b/src/dev/build/lib/exec.js
index 051e1b3b8fe76..663cfb8cc7d8c 100644
--- a/src/dev/build/lib/exec.js
+++ b/src/dev/build/lib/exec.js
@@ -1,34 +1,7 @@
 import execa from 'execa';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
-import { Transform } from 'stream';
 
-import {
-  createPromiseFromStreams,
-  createSplitStream,
-  createMapStream,
-} from '../../../utils';
-
-// creates a stream that skips empty lines unless they are followed by
-// another line, preventing the empty lines produced by splitStream
-function skipLastEmptyLineStream() {
-  let skippedEmptyLine = false;
-  return new Transform({
-    objectMode: true,
-    transform(line, enc, cb) {
-      if (skippedEmptyLine) {
-        this.push('');
-        skippedEmptyLine = false;
-      }
-
-      if (line === '') {
-        skippedEmptyLine = true;
-        return cb();
-      } else {
-        return cb(null, line);
-      }
-    }
-  });
-}
+import { watchStdioForLine } from '../../../utils';
 
 export async function exec(log, cmd, args, options = {}) {
   const {
@@ -44,32 +17,5 @@ export async function exec(log, cmd, args, options = {}) {
     cwd,
   });
 
-  function onLogLine(line) {
-    log[level](line);
-
-    if (exitAfter && exitAfter.test(line)) {
-      proc.kill('SIGINT');
-    }
-  }
-
-  await Promise.all([
-    proc.catch(error => {
-      // ignore the error thrown by execa if it's because we killed with SIGINT
-      if (error.signal !== 'SIGINT') {
-        throw error;
-      }
-    }),
-    createPromiseFromStreams([
-      proc.stdout,
-      createSplitStream('\n'),
-      skipLastEmptyLineStream(),
-      createMapStream(onLogLine),
-    ]),
-    createPromiseFromStreams([
-      proc.stderr,
-      createSplitStream('\n'),
-      skipLastEmptyLineStream(),
-      createMapStream(onLogLine),
-    ]),
-  ]);
+  await watchStdioForLine(proc, line => log[level](line), exitAfter);
 }
diff --git a/src/dev/build/lib/__tests__/fixtures/log_on_sigint.js b/src/utils/__tests__/fixtures/log_on_sigint.js
similarity index 100%
rename from src/dev/build/lib/__tests__/fixtures/log_on_sigint.js
rename to src/utils/__tests__/fixtures/log_on_sigint.js
diff --git a/src/utils/__tests__/watch_stdio_for_line.js b/src/utils/__tests__/watch_stdio_for_line.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..969e638eccada
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/__tests__/watch_stdio_for_line.js
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import execa from 'execa';
+import stripAnsi from 'strip-ansi';
+import sinon from 'sinon';
+
+import { watchStdioForLine } from '../watch_stdio_for_line';
+
+describe('src/utils/watch_stdio_for_line', function () {
+  const sandbox = sinon.sandbox.create();
+  afterEach(() => sandbox.reset());
+
+  const onLogLine = sandbox.stub();
+  const logFn = line => onLogLine(stripAnsi(line));
+
+  it('calls logFn with log lines', async () => {
+    const proc = execa(process.execPath, ['-e', 'console.log("hi")']);
+
+    await watchStdioForLine(proc, logFn);
+
+    // log output of the process
+    sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(onLogLine, sinon.match(/hi/));
+  });
+
+  it('send the proc SIGKILL if it logs a line matching exitAfter regexp', async function () {
+    // fixture proc will exit after 10 seconds if sigint not received, but the test won't fail
+    // unless we see the log line `SIGINT not received`, so we let the test take up to 30 seconds
+    // for potentially huge delays here and there
+    this.timeout(30000);
+
+    const proc = execa(process.execPath, [require.resolve('./fixtures/log_on_sigint')]);
+
+    await watchStdioForLine(proc, logFn, /listening for SIGINT/);
+
+    sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(onLogLine, sinon.match(/listening for SIGINT/));
+    sinon.assert.neverCalledWith(onLogLine, sinon.match(/SIGINT not received/));
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/utils/index.js b/src/utils/index.js
index 90f299e3389fa..2ebbe3631d4d9 100644
--- a/src/utils/index.js
+++ b/src/utils/index.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ export { unset } from './unset';
 export { encodeQueryComponent } from './encode_query_component';
 export { modifyUrl } from './modify_url';
 export { getFlattenedObject } from './get_flattened_object';
+export { watchStdioForLine } from './watch_stdio_for_line';
 
 export {
   getKbnTypeNames,
diff --git a/src/utils/watch_stdio_for_line.js b/src/utils/watch_stdio_for_line.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..653dacb3e22fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/watch_stdio_for_line.js
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import { Transform } from 'stream';
+
+import {
+  createPromiseFromStreams,
+  createSplitStream,
+  createMapStream,
+} from './streams';
+
+// creates a stream that skips empty lines unless they are followed by
+// another line, preventing the empty lines produced by splitStream
+function skipLastEmptyLineStream() {
+  let skippedEmptyLine = false;
+  return new Transform({
+    objectMode: true,
+    transform(line, enc, cb) {
+      if (skippedEmptyLine) {
+        this.push('');
+        skippedEmptyLine = false;
+      }
+
+      if (line === '') {
+        skippedEmptyLine = true;
+        return cb();
+      } else {
+        return cb(null, line);
+      }
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+export async function watchStdioForLine(proc, logFn, exitAfter) {
+  function onLogLine(line) {
+    logFn(line);
+
+    if (exitAfter && exitAfter.test(line)) {
+      proc.kill('SIGINT');
+    }
+  }
+
+  await Promise.all([
+    proc.catch(error => {
+      // ignore the error thrown by execa if it's because we killed with SIGINT
+      if (error.signal !== 'SIGINT') {
+        throw error;
+      }
+    }),
+    createPromiseFromStreams([
+      proc.stdout,
+      createSplitStream('\n'),
+      skipLastEmptyLineStream(),
+      createMapStream(onLogLine),
+    ]),
+    createPromiseFromStreams([
+      proc.stderr,
+      createSplitStream('\n'),
+      skipLastEmptyLineStream(),
+      createMapStream(onLogLine),
+    ]),
+  ]);
+}