diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-core/src/standalone.js b/packages/react-devtools-core/src/standalone.js
index df89a728c308..ccf4fd60ba1f 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-core/src/standalone.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-core/src/standalone.js
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@ function startServer(
     response.end(
       backendFile.toString() +
         '\n;' +
+        `var ReactDevToolsBackend = typeof ReactDevToolsBackend !== "undefined" ? ReactDevToolsBackend : require("ReactDevToolsBackend");\n` +
         `ReactDevToolsBackend.initialize(undefined, undefined, undefined, ${componentFiltersString});` +
         '\n' +
         `ReactDevToolsBackend.connectToDevTools({port: ${port}, host: '${host}', useHttps: ${
diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-core/webpack.backend.js b/packages/react-devtools-core/webpack.backend.js
index 32d4fadcb588..67b714825c87 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-core/webpack.backend.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-core/webpack.backend.js
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ module.exports = {
     // This name is important; standalone references it in order to connect.
     library: 'ReactDevToolsBackend',
     libraryTarget: 'umd',
+    umdNamedDefine: true,
   },
   resolve: {
     alias: {