diff --git a/cli/app.go b/cli/app.go
index fd50b9c566d..b702d2dc978 100644
--- a/cli/app.go
+++ b/cli/app.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ const (
 	moduleBuildFlagPlatform  = "platform"
 	moduleBuildFlagWait      = "wait"
 	moduleBuildFlagToken     = "token"
+	moduleBuildFlagWorkdir   = "workdir"
 	moduleBuildFlagGroupLogs = "group-logs"
 	moduleBuildRestartOnly   = "restart-only"
 	moduleBuildFlagNoBuild   = "no-build"
@@ -1629,6 +1630,11 @@ Example:
 									Name:  moduleBuildFlagToken,
 									Usage: "checkout token for private repos, not necessary for public repos",
 								},
+								&cli.StringFlag{
+									Name:  moduleBuildFlagWorkdir,
+									Usage: "use this to indicate that your meta.json is in a subdirectory of your repo." + " --module flag should be relative to this",
+									Value: ".",
+								},
 							},
 							Action: ModuleBuildStartAction,
 						},
diff --git a/cli/module_build.go b/cli/module_build.go
index 70362f7a079..a48c64adeb2 100644
--- a/cli/module_build.go
+++ b/cli/module_build.go
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ func (c *viamClient) moduleBuildStartAction(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
 
 	gitRef := cCtx.String(moduleBuildFlagRef)
 	token := cCtx.String(moduleBuildFlagToken)
+	workdir := cCtx.String(moduleBuildFlagWorkdir)
 	req := buildpb.StartBuildRequest{
 		Repo:          manifest.URL,
 		Ref:           &gitRef,
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ func (c *viamClient) moduleBuildStartAction(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
 		ModuleId:      manifest.ModuleID,
 		ModuleVersion: version,
 		Token:         &token,
+		Workdir:       &workdir,
 	}
 	if err := c.ensureLoggedIn(); err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 303eb9a961b..f07cf0b0f0d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ require (
 	go.uber.org/atomic v1.11.0
 	go.uber.org/multierr v1.11.0
 	go.uber.org/zap v1.24.0
-	go.viam.com/api v0.1.345
+	go.viam.com/api v0.1.347
 	go.viam.com/test v1.1.1-0.20220913152726-5da9916c08a2
 	go.viam.com/utils v0.1.104
 	goji.io v2.0.2+incompatible
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index c9de958d8f9..6ff22ce2a0e 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1607,8 +1607,8 @@ go.uber.org/zap v1.18.1/go.mod h1:xg/QME4nWcxGxrpdeYfq7UvYrLh66cuVKdrbD1XF/NI=
 go.uber.org/zap v1.23.0/go.mod h1:D+nX8jyLsMHMYrln8A0rJjFt/T/9/bGgIhAqxv5URuY=
 go.uber.org/zap v1.24.0 h1:FiJd5l1UOLj0wCgbSE0rwwXHzEdAZS6hiiSnxJN/D60=
 go.uber.org/zap v1.24.0/go.mod h1:2kMP+WWQ8aoFoedH3T2sq6iJ2yDWpHbP0f6MQbS9Gkg=
-go.viam.com/api v0.1.345 h1:QE7KWhkgIpclAG/aJSI3kIi6Mu5bLhutgrTLCy+QzfI=
-go.viam.com/api v0.1.345/go.mod h1:5lpVRxMsKFCaahqsnJfPGwJ9baoQ6PIKQu3lxvy6Wtw=
+go.viam.com/api v0.1.347 h1:A1kDle9+Im0OKnFmqmJXha+RMzzH2oBjykUQ8TuKvF0=
+go.viam.com/api v0.1.347/go.mod h1:5lpVRxMsKFCaahqsnJfPGwJ9baoQ6PIKQu3lxvy6Wtw=
 go.viam.com/test v1.1.1-0.20220913152726-5da9916c08a2 h1:oBiK580EnEIzgFLU4lHOXmGAE3MxnVbeR7s1wp/F3Ps=
 go.viam.com/test v1.1.1-0.20220913152726-5da9916c08a2/go.mod h1:XM0tej6riszsiNLT16uoyq1YjuYPWlRBweTPRDanIts=
 go.viam.com/utils v0.1.104 h1:UrO870aDYf48iw81Gts/r/9OaqNEpTKYF5tzQ2im5tw=