diff --git a/plugin.mjs b/plugin.mjs
index f7ba647bb9a0b97ecbe83853524ab14a51ef4f71..60094f7e8a26dde205ba217712e3f2547b73b64b 100644
--- a/plugin.mjs
+++ b/plugin.mjs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os from 'node:os';
+import path from 'node:path';
 import {rmSync} from 'node:fs';
 import SemanticReleaseError from '@semantic-release/error';
 import debug from 'debug';
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ async function uv(pluginConfig, context, ...args) {
 }
 
 export async function verifyConditions(pluginConfig, context) {
-	const {logger, env} = context;
+	const {logger, env, cwd} = context;
 	const {repositories: repositoriesData = {}, buildDirectory, uv: cli = await find()} = pluginConfig;
 
 	/* c8 ignore next */
@@ -60,7 +61,8 @@ export async function verifyConditions(pluginConfig, context) {
 	await uv(pluginConfig, context, 'build', ...args);
 	logger.success('Project builds');
 
-	rmSync(`${buildDirectory}`, {recursive: true, force: true});
+	const outDirectory = buildDirectory === undefined ? path.join(cwd, 'dist') : buildDirectory;
+	rmSync(`${outDirectory}`, {recursive: true, force: true});
 
 	debug('Validating `uv` repositories: %j', repositoriesData);