diff --git a/src/nimblepkg/options.nim b/src/nimblepkg/options.nim
index 33705678d..d6bcf77ec 100644
--- a/src/nimblepkg/options.nim
+++ b/src/nimblepkg/options.nim
@@ -772,7 +772,10 @@ proc getCompilationBinary*(options: Options, pkgInfo: PackageInfo): Option[strin
   of actionBuild, actionDoc, actionCompile:
     let file = options.action.file.changeFileExt("")
     if file.len > 0:
-      return some(file)
+      if fileExists(file):
+        return some(file)
+      else:
+        return some(pkgInfo.srcDir / file)
   of actionRun:
     let optRunFile = options.action.runFile
     let runFile =