diff --git a/crates/spirv-builder/src/lib.rs b/crates/spirv-builder/src/lib.rs
index cd19f00862e..345539c039d 100644
--- a/crates/spirv-builder/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/spirv-builder/src/lib.rs
@@ -883,6 +883,29 @@ fn join_checking_for_separators(strings: Vec<impl Borrow<str>>, sep: &str) -> St
     strings.join(sep)
 }
 
+impl SpirvBuilder {
+    /// The absolute target dir: [`Self::target_dir_path`] (default `spirv-builder`), relative to
+    /// the shader crate's cargo target dir unless already absolute.
+    ///
+    /// Relative paths need `cargo metadata`, which is slow, so the watcher resolves this only once.
+    fn resolve_target_dir(&self, path_to_crate: &Path) -> Result<PathBuf, cargo_metadata::Error> {
+        let target_dir_path = self
+            .target_dir_path
+            .clone()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("spirv-builder"));
+        if target_dir_path.is_absolute() {
+            return Ok(target_dir_path);
+        }
+        let metadata = cargo_metadata::MetadataCommand::new()
+            .current_dir(path_to_crate)
+            .exec()?;
+        Ok(metadata
+            .target_directory
+            .into_std_path_buf()
+            .join(target_dir_path))
+    }
+}
+
 pub struct RustcOutput {
     pub compile_result: CompileResult,
     pub deps: Vec<RawString>,
@@ -1048,21 +1071,7 @@ impl SpirvBuilder {
             rustflags.extend(extra_rustflags.split_whitespace().map(|s| s.to_string()));
         }
 
-        let target_dir_path = self
-            .target_dir_path
-            .clone()
-            .unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("spirv-builder"));
-        let target_dir = if target_dir_path.is_absolute() {
-            target_dir_path
-        } else {
-            let metadata = cargo_metadata::MetadataCommand::new()
-                .current_dir(path_to_crate)
-                .exec()?;
-            metadata
-                .target_directory
-                .into_std_path_buf()
-                .join(target_dir_path)
-        };
+        let target_dir = self.resolve_target_dir(path_to_crate)?;
 
         let mut cargo = cargo_cmd::CargoCmd::new();
         if let Some(toolchain) = &self.toolchain_overwrite {
diff --git a/crates/spirv-builder/src/tests.rs b/crates/spirv-builder/src/tests.rs
index 6b37072be07..9a523da7534 100644
--- a/crates/spirv-builder/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/spirv-builder/src/tests.rs
@@ -102,3 +102,33 @@ mod dylib_lookup {
         );
     }
 }
+
+mod target_dir {
+    use crate::SpirvBuilder;
+    use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+
+    fn sky_shader() -> PathBuf {
+        Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("../../examples/shaders/sky-shader")
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn absolute_target_dir_is_kept() {
+        let abs = std::env::temp_dir().join("my-spirv-target");
+        let mut builder = SpirvBuilder::new(sky_shader(), "spirv-unknown-vulkan1.2");
+        builder.target_dir_path = Some(abs.clone());
+        // a crate path without a `Cargo.toml`: `cargo metadata` would fail if it ran
+        let not_a_crate = std::env::temp_dir();
+        assert_eq!(builder.resolve_target_dir(&not_a_crate).unwrap(), abs);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn relative_target_dir_is_inside_cargo_target_dir() {
+        let builder = SpirvBuilder::new(sky_shader(), "spirv-unknown-vulkan1.2");
+        let resolved = builder.resolve_target_dir(&sky_shader()).unwrap();
+        assert!(resolved.is_absolute(), "{resolved:?}");
+        assert!(
+            resolved.ends_with("spirv-builder") && resolved != Path::new("spirv-builder"),
+            "{resolved:?}"
+        );
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/spirv-builder/src/watch.rs b/crates/spirv-builder/src/watch.rs
index 47914828fd4..03a8555d8ac 100644
--- a/crates/spirv-builder/src/watch.rs
+++ b/crates/spirv-builder/src/watch.rs
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ impl SpirvWatcher {
             Err(TryRecvError::Disconnected) => return Err(SpirvWatcherError::WatcherDied.into()),
         }
 
+        self.pin_target_dir();
         let result = (|| {
             let out = self.builder.invoke_rustc()?;
             self.watch_leaf_deps(out.deps.iter().map(|d| d.as_ref()));
@@ -151,6 +152,20 @@ impl SpirvWatcher {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Resolves a relative target dir to an absolute one once, so rebuilds don't each have to
+    /// run `cargo metadata`. Failures are left for [`SpirvBuilder::invoke_rustc`] to report, and
+    /// resolving is retried on the next build.
+    fn pin_target_dir(&mut self) {
+        let is_absolute = (self.builder.target_dir_path.as_ref()).is_some_and(|p| p.is_absolute());
+        if is_absolute || !self.path_to_crate.is_dir() {
+            return;
+        }
+        match self.builder.resolve_target_dir(&self.path_to_crate) {
+            Ok(target_dir) => self.builder.target_dir_path = Some(target_dir),
+            Err(err) => log::debug!("couldn't resolve target dir yet: {err}"),
+        }
+    }
+
     fn watch_leaf_deps<'a>(&mut self, deps: impl Iterator<Item = &'a RawStr>) {
         for dep in deps {
             let path = dep.to_path().unwrap();