diff --git a/src/build/build-example.js b/src/build/build-example.js
index 44a09c7e88..09dbf8468e 100644
--- a/src/build/build-example.js
+++ b/src/build/build-example.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import path from 'path';
 import ts from 'typescript';
 import esbuild from 'esbuild';
 import { platform } from 'node:process';
+import { makeNodeModulesExternal, makeJsooExternal, makeO1jsExternal } from './esbuild-plugins.js';
 
 export { buildAndImport, build, buildOne };
 
@@ -103,46 +104,6 @@ function typescriptPlugin(tsConfig) {
   };
 }
 
-function makeNodeModulesExternal() {
-  let isNodeModule = /^[^./\\]|^\.[^./\\]|^\.\.[^/\\]/;
-  return {
-    name: 'plugin-external',
-    setup(build) {
-      build.onResolve({ filter: isNodeModule }, ({ path }) => ({
-        path,
-        external: !(platform === 'win32' && path.endsWith('index.js')),
-      }));
-    },
-  };
-}
-
-function makeO1jsExternal() {
-  return {
-    name: 'plugin-external',
-    setup(build) {
-      build.onResolve({ filter: /^o1js$/ }, () => ({
-        path: './index.js',
-        external: true,
-      }));
-    },
-  };
-}
-
-function makeJsooExternal() {
-  let isJsoo = /(bc.cjs|plonk_wasm.cjs)$/;
-  return {
-    name: 'plugin-external',
-    setup(build) {
-      build.onResolve({ filter: isJsoo }, ({ path: filePath, resolveDir }) => {
-        return {
-          path: path.resolve(resolveDir, filePath),
-          external: true,
-        };
-      });
-    },
-  };
-}
-
 function findTsConfig() {
   let tsConfigPath = ts.findConfigFile(process.cwd(), ts.sys.fileExists);
   if (tsConfigPath === undefined) return;
diff --git a/src/build/build-node.js b/src/build/build-node.js
index 06cb4867e4..6fbb795df9 100644
--- a/src/build/build-node.js
+++ b/src/build/build-node.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { platform } from 'node:process';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import esbuild from 'esbuild';
 import minimist from 'minimist';
+import { makeNodeModulesExternal, makeJsooExternal } from './esbuild-plugins.js';
 
 let { bindings = './src/bindings/compiled/node_bindings/' } = minimist(process.argv.slice(2));
 
@@ -23,7 +24,8 @@ if (isMain) {
 }
 
 async function buildNode({ production }) {
-  // bundle the index.js file with esbuild and create a new index.cjs file which conforms to CJS
+  // bundle the index.js file with esbuild and create a new index.cjs file which
+  // conforms to CJS
   let jsEntry = path.resolve('dist/node', path.basename(entry).replace('.ts', '.js'));
   let outfile = jsEntry.replace('.js', '.cjs');
   await esbuild.build({
@@ -35,35 +37,8 @@ async function buildNode({ production }) {
     target,
     resolveExtensions: ['.node.js', '.ts', '.js'],
     allowOverwrite: true,
-    plugins: [makeNodeModulesExternal(), makeJsooExternal()],
+    plugins: [makeNodeModulesExternal(), makeJsooExternal({ useRelativePath: true })],
     dropLabels: ['ESM'],
     minify: false,
   });
 }
-
-function makeNodeModulesExternal() {
-  let isNodeModule = /^[^./\\]|^\.[^./\\]|^\.\.[^/\\]/;
-  return {
-    name: 'plugin-external',
-    setup(build) {
-      build.onResolve({ filter: isNodeModule }, ({ path }) => ({
-        path,
-        external: !(platform === 'win32' && path.endsWith('index.js')),
-      }));
-    },
-  };
-}
-
-function makeJsooExternal() {
-  let isJsoo = /(bc.cjs|plonk_wasm.cjs)$/;
-  return {
-    name: 'plugin-external',
-    setup(build) {
-      build.onResolve({ filter: isJsoo }, ({ path: filePath, resolveDir }) => ({
-        path:
-          './' + path.relative(path.resolve('.', 'dist/node'), path.resolve(resolveDir, filePath)),
-        external: true,
-      }));
-    },
-  };
-}
diff --git a/src/build/esbuild-plugins.js b/src/build/esbuild-plugins.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7355ac963e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/build/esbuild-plugins.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { platform } from 'node:process';
+import path from 'node:path';
+
+export { makeNodeModulesExternal, makeJsooExternal, makeO1jsExternal };
+
+function makeNodeModulesExternal() {
+  let isNodeModule = /^[^./\\]|^\.[^./\\]|^\.\.[^/\\]/;
+  return {
+    name: 'plugin-external',
+    setup(build) {
+      build.onResolve({ filter: isNodeModule }, ({ path }) => ({
+        path,
+        external: !(platform === 'win32' && path.endsWith('index.js')),
+      }));
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+function makeJsooExternal(options = {}) {
+  let isJsoo = /(bc.cjs|plonk_wasm.cjs)$/;
+  return {
+    name: 'plugin-external',
+    setup(build) {
+      build.onResolve({ filter: isJsoo }, ({ path: filePath, resolveDir }) => {
+        const resolvedPath = path.resolve(resolveDir, filePath);
+        return {
+          path: options.useRelativePath
+            ? './' + path.relative(path.resolve('.', 'dist/node'), resolvedPath)
+            : resolvedPath,
+          external: true,
+        };
+      });
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+function makeO1jsExternal() {
+  return {
+    name: 'plugin-external',
+    setup(build) {
+      build.onResolve({ filter: /^o1js$/ }, () => ({
+        path: './index.js',
+        external: true,
+      }));
+    },
+  };
+}