diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index c2fdddcbed6e4..5658ee8935fdd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: taiki-e/install-action@nextest
       - name: cargo simtest
         run: |
-          scripts/simtest/cargo-simtest simtest
+          scripts/simtest/cargo-simtest simtest build
 
   # This is a no-op job that allows the resulting action names to line up when
   # there are no rust changes in a given PR/commit. This ensures that we can
diff --git a/scripts/simtest/cargo-simtest b/scripts/simtest/cargo-simtest
index 1bb557da675be..cf5443203bb44 100755
--- a/scripts/simtest/cargo-simtest
+++ b/scripts/simtest/cargo-simtest
@@ -43,8 +43,13 @@ else
   echo "Using MSIM_TEST_SEED=$MSIM_TEST_SEED from the environment"
 fi
 
-cargo nextest run \
-  --cargo-profile simulator \
+CARGO_COMMAND=(nextest run --cargo-profile simulator)
+if [ "$1" = "build" ]; then
+  shift
+  CARGO_COMMAND=(build --profile simulator)
+fi
+
+cargo ${CARGO_COMMAND[@]} \
   --config 'build.rustflags = ["--cfg", "msim"]' \
   --config 'patch.crates-io.tokio.git = "https://github.com/MystenLabs/mysten-sim.git"' \
   --config 'patch.crates-io.tokio.rev = "15dff80e8e69218bc20b08a5ef91a4f156e626ac"' \