diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl
index 0d1614b7e972a5..49df11b6eef0d3 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/cluster.jl
@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ end
 
 Return the cluster cookie.
 """
-cluster_cookie() = LPROC.cookie
+cluster_cookie() = (init_multi(); LPROC.cookie)
 
 """
     cluster_cookie(cookie) -> cookie
@@ -652,6 +652,7 @@ cluster_cookie() = LPROC.cookie
 Set the passed cookie as the cluster cookie, then returns it.
 """
 function cluster_cookie(cookie)
+    init_multi()
     # The cookie must be an ASCII string with length <=  HDR_COOKIE_LEN
     @assert isascii(cookie)
     @assert length(cookie) <= HDR_COOKIE_LEN
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl
index 04ef09d495a2d9..f17d97697c27e2 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/test/distributed_exec.jl
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 using Test, Distributed, Random, Serialization, Sockets
 import Distributed: launch, manage
 
+@test cluster_cookie() isa String
+
 include(joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, "..", "share", "julia", "test", "testenv.jl"))
 
 @test Distributed.extract_imports(:(begin; import Foo, Bar; let; using Baz; end; end)) ==