diff --git a/.circleci/do-rtl-build.sh b/.circleci/do-rtl-build.sh
index a13412e3..3a5d56ca 100755
--- a/.circleci/do-rtl-build.sh
+++ b/.circleci/do-rtl-build.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ cd $LOCAL_CHIPYARD_DIR
 ./scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools.sh
 ./scripts/init-fpga.sh
 
+# replace the workspace dir with a local dir so you can copy around
+sed -i -E 's/(workspace=).*(\/tools)/\1$PWD\2/g' .sbtopts
+
 # set stricthostkeychecking to no (must happen before rsync)
 run "echo \"Ping $SERVER\""
 
diff --git a/.circleci/run-firesim-scala-tests.sh b/.circleci/run-firesim-scala-tests.sh
index a2525297..23c4d08a 100755
--- a/.circleci/run-firesim-scala-tests.sh
+++ b/.circleci/run-firesim-scala-tests.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ cd $LOCAL_CHIPYARD_DIR/sims/firesim
 ./scripts/build-libdwarf.sh
 cd $LOCAL_CHIPYARD_DIR
 
+# replace the workspace dir with a local dir so you can copy around
+sed -i -E 's/(workspace=).*(\/tools)/\1$PWD\2/g' .sbtopts
+
 make -C $LOCAL_CHIPYARD_DIR/tools/dromajo/dromajo-src/src
 
 # set stricthostkeychecking to no (must happen before rsync)
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 257d2c58..7c0f02bf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@ tags
 env-riscv-tools.sh
 env-esp-tools.sh
 .bsp/
+.sbtopts
diff --git a/.sbtopts b/.sbtopts
deleted file mode 100644
index 2358d787..00000000
--- a/.sbtopts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
--Dsbt.sourcemode=true
--Dsbt.workspace=$PWD/tools
diff --git a/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools-nolog.sh b/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools-nolog.sh
index 2d2e920c..0d47dd03 100755
--- a/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools-nolog.sh
+++ b/scripts/init-submodules-no-riscv-tools-nolog.sh
@@ -81,3 +81,5 @@ echo "# line auto-generated by init-submodules-no-riscv-tools.sh" >> env.sh
 echo '__DIR="$(dirname "$(readlink -f "${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-${(%):-%x}}")")"' >> env.sh
 echo "PATH=\$__DIR/bin:\$PATH" >> env.sh
 echo "PATH=\$__DIR/software/firemarshal:\$PATH" >> env.sh
+echo "-Dsbt.sourcemode=true" > .sbtopts
+echo "-Dsbt.workspace=$CHIPYARD_DIR/tools"  >> .sbtopts