diff --git a/invokeai/backend/model_manager/merge.py b/invokeai/backend/model_manager/merge.py
index ab4a0f18c3..6fb938e5f6 100644
--- a/invokeai/backend/model_manager/merge.py
+++ b/invokeai/backend/model_manager/merge.py
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ class ModelMerger(object):
         config = self._installer.app_config
         store = self._installer.record_store
         base_models: Set[BaseModelType] = set()
-        vae = None
         variant = None if self._installer.app_config.full_precision else "fp16"
 
         assert (