diff --git a/crates/cli/tests/reference.rs b/crates/cli/tests/reference.rs
index df9c7d27399..f62bf0af48b 100644
--- a/crates/cli/tests/reference.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/tests/reference.rs
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let filter = env::args().nth(1);
 
     let mut tests = Vec::new();
-    let dir = env::current_dir()?.join("tests/reference");
+    let dir = repo_root().join("crates/cli/tests/reference");
     for entry in dir.read_dir()? {
         let path = entry?.path();
         if path.extension().and_then(|s| s.to_str()) != Some("rs") {
@@ -114,7 +114,11 @@ fn runtest(test: &Path) -> Result<()> {
         .arg("build")
         .arg("--target")
         .arg("wasm32-unknown-unknown")
-        .env("CARGO_TARGET_DIR", &target_dir);
+        .env("CARGO_TARGET_DIR", &target_dir)
+        .env(
+            "CARGO_ENCODED_RUSTFLAGS",
+            "-Ctarget-feature=-multivalue,-reference-types",
+        );
     exec(&mut cargo)?;
 
     let wasm = target_dir
@@ -134,10 +138,10 @@ fn runtest(test: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     exec(&mut bindgen)?;
 
     if !contents.contains("async") {
-        let js = fs::read_to_string(td.path().join("reference_test_bg.js"))?;
-        assert_same(&js, &test.with_extension("js"))?;
         let wat = sanitize_wasm(&td.path().join("reference_test_bg.wasm"))?;
         assert_same(&wat, &test.with_extension("wat"))?;
+        let js = fs::read_to_string(td.path().join("reference_test_bg.js"))?;
+        assert_same(&js, &test.with_extension("js"))?;
     }
     let d_ts = fs::read_to_string(td.path().join("reference_test.d.ts"))?;
     assert_same(&d_ts, &test.with_extension("d.ts"))?;
@@ -224,19 +228,15 @@ fn diff(a: &str, b: &str) -> Result<()> {
 }
 
 fn target_dir() -> PathBuf {
-    let mut dir = env::current_exe().unwrap();
-    dir.pop(); // current exe
-    if dir.ends_with("deps") {
-        dir.pop();
-    }
-    dir.pop(); // debug and/or release
-    dir
+    repo_root().join("target/tests/reference")
 }
 
 fn repo_root() -> PathBuf {
     let mut repo_root = env::current_dir().unwrap();
-    repo_root.pop(); // remove 'cli'
-    repo_root.pop(); // remove 'crates'
+    if repo_root.file_name() == Some("cli".as_ref()) {
+        repo_root.pop(); // remove 'cli'
+        repo_root.pop(); // remove 'crates'
+    }
     repo_root
 }