diff --git a/barretenberg/cpp/Earthfile b/barretenberg/cpp/Earthfile
index 282362004d5..a04a862a106 100644
--- a/barretenberg/cpp/Earthfile
+++ b/barretenberg/cpp/Earthfile
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ preset-wasm:
     # wasi-sdk
     COPY +get-wasi-sdk/wasi-sdk src/wasi-sdk
     DO +RUN_CMAKE --configure="--preset wasm-threads" --build="--target barretenberg.wasm"
-    RUN ./src/wasi-sdk/bin/llvm-strip ./bin/barretenberg.wasm
+    RUN ../src/wasi-sdk/bin/llvm-strip ./bin/barretenberg.wasm
     SAVE ARTIFACT bin
     SAVE IMAGE --cache-hint
 
@@ -137,25 +137,27 @@ build: # default target
 test:
     BUILD +test-clang-format
     FROM +preset-release-assert-all
-    COPY --dir ./srs_db/+build/. srs_db
-    # Fiddly bit: we need to reconstruct the paths that CMake built with
-    RUN mkdir -p build && mv bin CMakeCache.txt CMakeFiles build && cd build
+    COPY --dir ./srs_db/+build/. ../srs_db
     RUN GTEST_COLOR=1 ctest -j$(nproc) --output-on-failure
 
 # Functions
 RUN_CMAKE:
+    FUNCTION
     # Runs cmake build and leaves binary artifacts at 'bin'. Uses a mounted cache
     # for incremental rebuilds.
-    FUNCTION
     ARG configure # cmake configure flags
     ARG build # cmake build flags
-
+    WORKDIR /build
     # Use a mount for incremental builds locally.
     # TODO(AD): To be determined: does this get us in trouble in CI?
     RUN --mount type=cache,id="$configure-build",target=/build/build \
         (cmake $configure -Bbuild || (rm -f build/CMakeCache.txt && cmake $configure -Bbuild)) && \
         cmake --build build $build && \
-        cp -r build/CMakeCache.txt build/CMakeFiles build/bin .
+        cp -r build build-tmp
+    # move the temporary build folder back
+    # this is because the cached build goes away 
+    RUN rm -rf build && mv build-tmp build
+    WORKDIR /build/build
 
 BENCH_RELEASE:
     FUNCTION
diff --git a/scripts/earthly-cloud b/scripts/earthly-cloud
index d474dd1b533..af39247965a 100755
--- a/scripts/earthly-cloud
+++ b/scripts/earthly-cloud
@@ -60,17 +60,16 @@ if $INTERACTIVE ; then
   # don't play nice with tee if interactive
   earthly $EARTHLY_FLAGS $@
 elif ! earthly $EARTHLY_FLAGS $@ 2>&1 | tee .output.txt >&2 ; then
-  # we got a failure, handle retries
+  # we try earthly once, capturing output
+  # if we get one of our (unfortunate) known failures, handle retries
   # TODO potentially handle other intermittent errors here
   if grep 'failed to get edge: inconsistent graph state' .output.txt >/dev/null ; then
-    # TODO we need to limit earthly parallelism or sometimes get
+    # TODO when earthly is overloaded we sometimes get 
     # 'failed to solve: failed to get edge: inconsistent graph state'
-    # so we use arbitrary WAIT statement groups. Pending earthly support.
-    # for now we just try to recover from the failures.
     echo "Got 'inconsistent graph state'. Restarting earthly. See https://github.com/earthly/earthly/issues/2454'"
     earthly $EARTHLY_FLAGS $@
   else
     # otherwise, propagate error
     exit 1
   fi
-fi
\ No newline at end of file
+fi