diff --git a/src/cmd/build.rs b/src/cmd/build.rs
index 39c628dda0c303f0afe1533a849a19f1482749cd..a5603ddf8c535a638684748c83901fcfee3c2450 100644
--- a/src/cmd/build.rs
+++ b/src/cmd/build.rs
@@ -300,8 +300,8 @@ fn execute(
     build_artifact: BuildArtifacts,
     unstable_flags: UnstableFlags,
 ) -> Result<BuildResult> {
-    let crate_metadata = CrateMetadata::collect(manifest_path)?;
     if build_artifact == BuildArtifacts::CodeOnly || build_artifact == BuildArtifacts::CheckOnly {
+        let crate_metadata = CrateMetadata::collect(manifest_path)?;
         let (maybe_dest_wasm, maybe_optimization_result) = execute_with_crate_metadata(
             &crate_metadata,
             verbosity,