diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e13632aa..20772816 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 
 - fix: resolve warning in `deserializeRawMap` [#692](https://github.com/hypermodeinc/modus/pull/692)
 
+## 2025-01-09 - CLI 0.16.6
+
+- fix: assemblyscript builds failing [#698](https://github.com/hypermodeinc/modus/pull/698)
+
 ## 2025-01-07 - CLI 0.16.5
 
 - fix: handle space in user profile path [#696](https://github.com/hypermodeinc/modus/pull/696)
diff --git a/cli/src/util/cp.ts b/cli/src/util/cp.ts
index 268e6a9c..4e5cbce3 100644
--- a/cli/src/util/cp.ts
+++ b/cli/src/util/cp.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 import util from "node:util";
 import cp from "node:child_process";
+import path from "node:path";
 
 /**
  * Promisified version of `child_process.execFile`.
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ export { exec };
  */
 export async function execFileWithExitCode(file: string, args?: string[], options?: cp.ExecFileOptions): Promise<{ stdout: string; stderr: string; exitCode: number }> {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    if (options?.shell) {
+    if (options?.shell && path.isAbsolute(file)) {
       file = `"${file}"`;
     }