diff --git a/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.test.ts b/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89656c0f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import os from 'node:os';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { mkdtemp, mkdir, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+// Vitest is provided by the repository test runner and is not a package dependency.
+// eslint-disable-next-line import-x/no-extraneous-dependencies
+import { afterEach, expect, test, vi } from 'vitest';
+import type { TemplateConfiguration } from '../template.ts';
+import { spawn } from '../utils/spawn.ts';
+import generateExampleApp from './generateExampleApp.ts';
+
+vi.mock('../utils/spawn.ts', () => ({
+  spawn: vi.fn(),
+}));
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  vi.clearAllMocks();
+});
+
+test('uses the latest Community CLI for vanilla example apps', async () => {
+  const root = await mkdtemp(
+    path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'create-react-native-library-')
+  );
+
+  try {
+    await mkdir(path.join(root, 'example'));
+    await writeFile(
+      path.join(root, 'example', 'package.json'),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        dependencies: {},
+        devDependencies: {},
+        scripts: {},
+      })
+    );
+
+    const config: TemplateConfiguration = {
+      author: {
+        email: '',
+        name: '',
+        url: '',
+      },
+      example: 'vanilla',
+      project: {
+        cpp: false,
+        description: 'Test project',
+        identifier: 'test',
+        moduleConfig: 'turbo-modules',
+        name: 'Test',
+        native: true,
+        package: 'test',
+        package_cpp: 'test',
+        package_dir: 'test',
+        slug: 'test',
+        sourceCondition: 'test-source',
+        swift: false,
+        viewConfig: null,
+      },
+      repo: '',
+      tools: [],
+      versions: {
+        bob: '0.0.0',
+        nitro: undefined,
+      },
+      year: 2026,
+    };
+
+    await generateExampleApp({
+      config,
+      reactNativeVersion: undefined,
+      root,
+    });
+
+    const args = vi.mocked(spawn).mock.calls[0]?.[1];
+
+    expect(args?.[0]).toBe('@react-native-community/cli@latest');
+  } finally {
+    await rm(root, { force: true, recursive: true });
+  }
+});
diff --git a/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.ts b/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.ts
index 92326ebf4..303d2a341 100644
--- a/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.ts
+++ b/packages/create-react-native-library/src/exampleApp/generateExampleApp.ts
@@ -139,9 +139,9 @@ export default async function generateExampleApp({
         );
       }
 
-      // `npx @react-native-community/cli init <projectName> --directory example --skip-install`
+      // `npx @react-native-community/cli@latest init <projectName> --directory example --skip-install`
       args = [
-        `@react-native-community/cli`,
+        `@react-native-community/cli@latest`,
         'init',
         `${config.project.name}Example`,
         '--package-name',