diff --git a/smoketests/__init__.py b/smoketests/__init__.py
index 66d33a175d5..d9f724db6a9 100644
--- a/smoketests/__init__.py
+++ b/smoketests/__init__.py
@@ -20,10 +20,15 @@
 TEST_DIR = Path(__file__).parent
 STDB_DIR = TEST_DIR.parent
 exe_suffix = ".exe" if sys.platform == "win32" else ""
-SPACETIME_BIN = STDB_DIR / ("target/debug/spacetime" + exe_suffix)
 TEMPLATE_TARGET_DIR = STDB_DIR / "target/_stdbsmoketests"
 BASE_STDB_CONFIG_PATH = TEST_DIR / "config.toml"
 
+SPACETIME_BIN = None
+def update_spacetime_bin_path(build_dir):
+    global SPACETIME_BIN
+    SPACETIME_BIN = build_dir / ("debug/spacetime" + exe_suffix)
+update_spacetime_bin_path(STDB_DIR / "target")
+
 # the contents of files for the base smoketest project template
 TEMPLATE_LIB_RS = open(STDB_DIR / "crates/cli/templates/basic-rust/server/src/lib.rs").read()
 TEMPLATE_CARGO_TOML = open(STDB_DIR / "crates/cli/templates/basic-rust/server/Cargo.toml").read()
@@ -142,7 +147,7 @@ def log_cmd(args):
     logging.debug(f"$ {' '.join(str(arg) for arg in args)}")
 
 
-def run_cmd(*args, capture_stderr=True, check=True, full_output=False, cmd_name=None, log=True, **kwargs):
+def run_cmd(*args, capture_stdout=True, capture_stderr=True, check=True, full_output=False, cmd_name=None, log=True, **kwargs):
     if log:
         log_cmd(args if cmd_name is None else [cmd_name, *args[1:]])
 
@@ -162,7 +167,7 @@ def run_cmd(*args, capture_stderr=True, check=True, full_output=False, cmd_name=
         if capture_stderr and output.stderr.strip() != "":
             logging.debug(f"--- stderr ---\n{output.stderr.strip()}")
             needs_close = True
-        if output.stdout.strip() != "":
+        if capture_stdout and output.stdout.strip() != "":
             logging.debug(f"--- stdout ---\n{output.stdout.strip()}")
             needs_close = True
         if needs_close:
diff --git a/smoketests/__main__.py b/smoketests/__main__.py
index 6161dc5a7aa..e1c92bb5332 100644
--- a/smoketests/__main__.py
+++ b/smoketests/__main__.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 import re
 import fnmatch
 import json
-from . import TEST_DIR, SPACETIME_BIN, BASE_STDB_CONFIG_PATH, exe_suffix, build_template_target
+from . import TEST_DIR, SPACETIME_BIN, BASE_STDB_CONFIG_PATH, exe_suffix, build_template_target, update_spacetime_bin_path
 import smoketests
 import sys
 import logging
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ def main():
     if not args.no_build_cli:
         logging.info("Compiling spacetime cli...")
         smoketests.run_cmd("cargo", "build", cwd=TEST_DIR.parent, capture_stderr=False)
+        build_metadata = smoketests.run_cmd("cargo", "metadata", "--format-version", "1", "--no-deps", cwd=TEST_DIR.parent, capture_stdout=False)
+        parsed = json.loads(build_metadata)
+        update_spacetime_bin_path(Path(parsed['target_directory']))
 
     update_bin_name = "spacetimedb-update" + exe_suffix
     try: