diff --git a/cli/standalone/binary.rs b/cli/standalone/binary.rs
index e35119e0aa7dfa..2d25bdaf686970 100644
--- a/cli/standalone/binary.rs
+++ b/cli/standalone/binary.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use std::borrow::Cow;
 use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::collections::VecDeque;
+use std::env;
 use std::env::current_exe;
 use std::ffi::OsString;
 use std::fs;
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ use std::io::Seek;
 use std::io::SeekFrom;
 use std::io::Write;
 use std::ops::Range;
+use std::path::Component;
 use std::path::Path;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::process::Command;
@@ -454,7 +456,7 @@ impl<'a> DenoCompileBinaryWriter<'a> {
     //
     // Phase 2 of the 'min sized' deno compile RFC talks
     // about adding this as a flag.
-    if let Some(path) = std::env::var_os("DENORT_BIN") {
+    if let Some(path) = get_dev_binary_path() {
       return std::fs::read(&path).with_context(|| {
         format!("Could not find denort at '{}'", path.to_string_lossy())
       });
@@ -904,6 +906,38 @@ impl<'a> DenoCompileBinaryWriter<'a> {
   }
 }
 
+fn get_denort(deno_exe: PathBuf) -> Option<OsString> {
+  let mut denort = deno_exe;
+  denort.set_file_name("denort");
+  denort.exists().then(|| denort.into_os_string())
+}
+
+fn is_in_target(path: &Path) -> bool {
+  path
+    .components()
+    .any(|component| component == Component::Normal("target".as_ref()))
+}
+
+fn get_dev_binary_path() -> Option<OsString> {
+  env::var_os("DENORT_BIN").or_else(|| {
+    env::current_exe().ok().and_then(|exec_path| {
+      if is_in_target(&exec_path) {
+        get_denort(exec_path)
+      } else if exec_path.is_symlink() {
+        fs::read_link(&exec_path).ok().and_then(|target_path| {
+          if is_in_target(&target_path) {
+            get_denort(target_path)
+          } else {
+            None
+          }
+        })
+      } else {
+        None
+      }
+    })
+  })
+}
+
 /// This function returns the environment variables specified
 /// in the passed environment file.
 fn get_file_env_vars(