diff --git a/src/cli/commands/run.js b/src/cli/commands/run.js
index 02a71610f0..b6c424de21 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/run.js
+++ b/src/cli/commands/run.js
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ export async function run(config: Config, reporter: Reporter, flags: Object, arg
     }
 
     if (cmds.length) {
+      // propagate YARN_SILENT env variable to executed commands
+      process.env.YARN_SILENT = '1';
       for (const [stage, cmd] of cmds) {
         // only tack on trailing arguments for default script, ignore for pre and post - #1595
         const defaultScriptCmd = `${cmd} ${sanitizedArgs(args).join(' ')}`;
diff --git a/src/cli/index.js b/src/cli/index.js
index 109051dbb4..a4f8b4dce5 100644
--- a/src/cli/index.js
+++ b/src/cli/index.js
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ const reporter = new Reporter({
   emoji: process.stdout.isTTY && commander.emoji,
   verbose: commander.verbose,
   noProgress: !commander.progress,
-  isSilent: commander.silent,
+  isSilent: process.env.YARN_SILENT === '1' || commander.silent,
 });
 
 reporter.initPeakMemoryCounter();