diff --git a/.github/build.sh b/.github/build.sh
index 494fbb0de..3744e41fb 100755
--- a/.github/build.sh
+++ b/.github/build.sh
@@ -521,7 +521,8 @@ if [[ $BSH_HOST_PLATFORM == darwin ]]; then
 		exit 1
 	fi
 elif [[ $PACKAGE_MODE == emscripten ]]; then
-	tar cvf $ASSET_PATH $APP_EXE.js $APP_EXE.wasm
+	cp resources/serve-wasm.py .
+	tar cvf $ASSET_PATH $APP_EXE.js $APP_EXE.wasm serve-wasm.py
 elif [[ $PACKAGE_MODE == appimage ]]; then
 	# so far this can only happen with $BSH_HOST_PLATFORM-$BSH_HOST_LIBC == linux-gnu, but this may change later
 	case $BSH_HOST_ARCH in
diff --git a/resources/serve-wasm.template.py b/resources/serve-wasm.template.py
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index f305f6b20..c2d6c8dac
--- a/resources/serve-wasm.template.py
+++ b/resources/serve-wasm.template.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
 from OpenSSL import crypto
 import http.server
 import json
@@ -7,12 +9,13 @@ import ssl
 import sys
 import time
 
-(
-	script,
-	build_root,
-) = sys.argv
-
-os.chdir(build_root)
+if len(sys.argv) >= 2:
+	# chdir if invoked through meson; assume that we're in the correct dir already otherwise
+	(
+		script,
+		build_root,
+	) = sys.argv
+	os.chdir(build_root)
 
 HTTP_HOST  = '127.0.0.1'
 HTTP_PORT  = 8000