diff --git a/R/appMetadata.R b/R/appMetadata.R
index ec0e11e6..0a1b8234 100644
--- a/R/appMetadata.R
+++ b/R/appMetadata.R
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ appMetadata <- function(appDir,
                         appPrimaryDoc = NULL,
                         quarto = NA,
                         contentCategory = NULL,
-                        coerceStaticRmd = FALSE,
+                        isShinyappsServer = FALSE,
                         metadata = list()) {
 
   appFiles <- listDeploymentFiles(appDir, appFiles)
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ appMetadata <- function(appDir,
     appMode <- inferAppMode(
       file.path(appDir, appFiles),
       usesQuarto = quarto,
-      coerceStaticRmd = coerceStaticRmd
+      isShinyappsServer = isShinyappsServer
     )
   }
 
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ checkAppLayout <- function(appDir, appPrimaryDoc = NULL) {
 # infer the mode of the application from files in the root dir
 inferAppMode <- function(absoluteAppFiles,
                          usesQuarto = NA,
-                         coerceStaticRmd = FALSE) {
+                         isShinyappsServer = FALSE) {
 
   matchingNames <- function(paths, pattern) {
     idx <- grepl(pattern, basename(paths), ignore.case = TRUE, perl = TRUE)
@@ -178,10 +178,9 @@ inferAppMode <- function(absoluteAppFiles,
     if (usesQuarto) {
       return("quarto-static")
     } else {
-      # For Shinyapps and posit.cloud, treat "rmd-static" app mode as "rmd-shiny" so that
-      # they can be served from a shiny process in Connect until we have better support of
-      # rmarkdown static content
-      if (coerceStaticRmd) {
+      # For shinyapps.io, treat "rmd-static" app mode as "rmd-shiny" so that
+      # it can be served from a shiny process in Connect
+      if (isShinyappsServer) {
         return("rmd-shiny")
       }
       return("rmd-static")
diff --git a/R/client-cloud.R b/R/client-cloud.R
index bcd3de39..be0afb60 100644
--- a/R/client-cloud.R
+++ b/R/client-cloud.R
@@ -302,15 +302,6 @@ cloudClient <- function(service, authInfo) {
       listRequest(service, authInfo, path, query, "invitations")
     },
 
-    coerceStaticRmd = function(accountId) {
-      # Posit Cloud will gain support soon for rendering RMD into static content. When support is
-      # added, true_static_rmd_enabled will be TRUE. In the meantime, RMDs can be deployed by
-      # using Shiny.
-      # TODO once Cloud supports this, remove this coercion.
-      account <- GET(service, authInfo, paste0("/accounts/", accountId))
-      account$beta$coerce_static_rmd_enabled
-    },
-
     listTasks = function(accountId, filters = NULL) {
       if (is.null(filters)) {
         filters <- vector()
diff --git a/R/client-connect.R b/R/client-connect.R
index 0411ea9f..98e1de43 100644
--- a/R/client-connect.R
+++ b/R/client-connect.R
@@ -96,10 +96,6 @@ connectClient <- function(service, authInfo) {
       GET(service, authInfo, paste0("/applications/", applicationId))
     },
 
-    coerceStaticRmd = function(accountId) {
-      FALSE
-    },
-
     ## Tasks API
 
     listTasks = function() {
diff --git a/R/client-shinyapps.R b/R/client-shinyapps.R
index 052cb8ae..15349037 100644
--- a/R/client-shinyapps.R
+++ b/R/client-shinyapps.R
@@ -214,10 +214,6 @@ shinyAppsClient <- function(service, authInfo) {
       POST_JSON(service, authInfo, path, json)
     },
 
-    coerceStaticRmd = function(accountId) {
-      TRUE
-    },
-
     listTasks = function(accountId, filters = NULL) {
       if (is.null(filters)) {
         filters <- vector()
diff --git a/R/deployApp.R b/R/deployApp.R
index f0c9693e..d82b0e4c 100644
--- a/R/deployApp.R
+++ b/R/deployApp.R
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ deployApp <- function(appDir = getwd(),
     showCookies(serverInfo(accountDetails$server)$url)
   }
 
-  coerceStaticRmd <- client$coerceStaticRmd(accountDetails$accountId)
+  isShinyappsServer <- isShinyappsServer(target$server)
 
   logger("Inferring App mode and parameters")
   appMetadata <- appMetadata(
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ deployApp <- function(appDir = getwd(),
     appPrimaryDoc = appPrimaryDoc,
     quarto = quarto,
     contentCategory = contentCategory,
-    coerceStaticRmd = coerceStaticRmd,
+    isShinyappsServer = isShinyappsServer,
     metadata = metadata
   )
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-appMetadata.R b/tests/testthat/test-appMetadata.R
index d24444f8..c5e44337 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-appMetadata.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-appMetadata.R
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ test_that("can infer mode for static quarto and rmd docs", {
   expect_equal(inferAppMode(paths), "rmd-static")
   expect_equal(inferAppMode(paths, usesQuarto = TRUE), "quarto-static")
   # Static R Markdown treated as rmd-shiny for shinyapps targets
-  expect_equal(inferAppMode(paths, coerceStaticRmd = TRUE), "rmd-shiny")
+  expect_equal(inferAppMode(paths, isShinyappsServer = TRUE), "rmd-shiny")
 })
 
 test_that("can infer mode for shiny rmd docs", {