diff --git a/xtask/src/file_analyzer.rs b/xtask/src/file_analyzer.rs
index 66f68ccedf..7038c08194 100644
--- a/xtask/src/file_analyzer.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/file_analyzer.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@ use std::path::Path;
 
 use anyhow::ensure;
 
-use crate::run_cargo::{CargoTestArgs, LogFilterLevel};
+use crate::{
+    run_cargo,
+    run_cargo::{CargoTestArgs, LogFilterLevel},
+};
 
 /// Command builder for running tests/base.rs
 pub struct TestBaseArgs<'a> {
@@ -16,7 +19,7 @@ impl<'a> TestBaseArgs<'a> {
     /// Create an empty TestBaseArgs.
     pub fn new() -> Self {
         Self {
-            inner: CargoTestArgs::new("stc_ts_file_analyzer").with_test("base"),
+            inner: CargoTestArgs::new("stc_ts_file_analyzer").with_test("base").with_lib(true),
             ignored: false,
         }
     }
@@ -42,6 +45,13 @@ impl<'a> TestBaseArgs<'a> {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Set cargo test --lib to run the unit tests in the library
+    #[must_use]
+    pub fn with_lib(mut self, lib: bool) -> Self {
+        self.inner = self.inner.with_lib(lib);
+        self
+    }
+
     /// cargo test --ignored: Whether to run ignored tests. Used by
     /// auto-unignore.
     #[must_use]
@@ -60,11 +70,7 @@ impl<'a> TestBaseArgs<'a> {
     pub fn to_command(&self) -> std::process::Command {
         let mut cmd = self.inner.to_command();
 
-        cmd.env("UPDATE", "1")
-            .arg("--lib")
-            .arg("--")
-            .arg("-Zunstable-options")
-            .arg("--report-time");
+        cmd.env("UPDATE", "1").arg("--").arg("-Zunstable-options").arg("--report-time");
 
         if self.ignored {
             cmd.arg("--ignored");
@@ -85,14 +91,15 @@ impl<'a> TestBaseArgs<'a> {
         // appropriate println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=<path>");
 
         let mut cmd = self.to_command();
+        println!("{cmd:?}");
 
         let status = cmd.status()?;
-        ensure!(status.success(), "test base failed: {status}");
+        ensure!(status.success(), "analyzer test base failed: {status}");
         Ok(())
     }
 }
 
-/// Implements xtask auto-unignore
+/// Implements xtask auto-unignore: un-ignore tests that pass.
 pub fn auto_unignore() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     // Remove any ignored tests cached outputs so they are re-run.
     // (shouldn't all tests be re-run?)
@@ -100,7 +107,11 @@ pub fn auto_unignore() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 
     // Ignore the result of testing, we just want the updated .tsc-errors.json as a
     // side-effect.
-    let _ = TestBaseArgs::new().with_ignored().run();
+    let _ = TestBaseArgs::new()
+        .with_log_max_level(LogFilterLevel::Off)
+        .with_lib(false)
+        .with_ignored()
+        .run();
 
     // Remove failed tests caches again, only successful tests should be committed.
     unignore_cleanup()?;
@@ -111,7 +122,7 @@ pub fn auto_unignore() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 fn unignore_cleanup() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     println!("Deleting cache for ignored tests");
     // find ./tests/tsc -name '\.*.tsc-errors.json' -type f -delete
-    return walk(Path::new("crates/stc_ts_file_analyzer/tests/tsc"));
+    return walk(&run_cargo::root_dir().join("crates/stc_ts_file_analyzer/tests/tsc"));
 
     fn walk(dir: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         for entry in std::fs::read_dir(dir)? {
diff --git a/xtask/src/main.rs b/xtask/src/main.rs
index 79dfea70d8..98bdf9af67 100644
--- a/xtask/src/main.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/main.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ struct Cli {
 enum Command {
     /// Run tests for stc_ts_file_analyzer
     TestAnalyzer(TestAnalyzerArgs),
-    /// Automatically find a test to work on.
+    /// Automatically unignore stc_ts_file_analyzer tests that pass.
     AutoUnignore,
     /// Run tests for stc_ts_type_checker
     TestChecker(TestCheckerArgs),
diff --git a/xtask/src/run_cargo.rs b/xtask/src/run_cargo.rs
index a0cc213737..96b4063573 100644
--- a/xtask/src/run_cargo.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/run_cargo.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 //! Provide general helpers to run a nested cargo command.
 
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
 /// tracing static filter level, to improve performance at the cost of needing
 /// to rebuild.
 #[derive(Debug)]
@@ -47,6 +49,7 @@ pub struct CargoTestArgs<'a> {
     log_max_level: Option<LogFilterLevel>,
     log: Option<&'a str>,
     package: &'a str,
+    lib: bool,
     test: Option<&'a str>,
     name: Option<&'a str>,
 }
@@ -61,6 +64,7 @@ impl<'a> CargoTestArgs<'a> {
             log_max_level: None,
             log: None,
             package,
+            lib: false,
             test: None,
             name: None,
         }
@@ -82,6 +86,13 @@ impl<'a> CargoTestArgs<'a> {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Set cargo test --lib to run the unit tests in the library
+    #[must_use]
+    pub fn with_lib(mut self, lib: bool) -> Self {
+        self.lib = lib;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Set cargo test --test file to run, e.g. base or prof
     #[must_use]
     pub fn with_test(mut self, test: &'a str) -> Self {
@@ -99,6 +110,9 @@ impl<'a> CargoTestArgs<'a> {
     /// Return a Command that can be further configured and run.
     pub fn to_command(&self) -> std::process::Command {
         let mut cmd = std::process::Command::new("cargo");
+        // normalize working dir
+        cmd.current_dir(root_dir());
+
         if let Some(log) = self.log {
             cmd.env("RUST_LOG", log);
         }
@@ -114,6 +128,9 @@ impl<'a> CargoTestArgs<'a> {
         if let Some(level) = &self.log_max_level {
             cmd.arg("--features").arg(level.as_max_level_feature());
         }
+        if self.lib {
+            cmd.arg("--lib");
+        }
         if let Some(test) = self.test {
             cmd.arg("--test").arg(test);
         }
@@ -123,3 +140,11 @@ impl<'a> CargoTestArgs<'a> {
         cmd
     }
 }
+
+pub fn root_dir() -> PathBuf {
+    let mut manifest_dir =
+        PathBuf::from(std::env::var_os("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").expect("$CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR not set: are you using 'cargo xtask ...'?"));
+    // xtask manifest should be at: <root>/xtask/Cargo.toml
+    manifest_dir.pop();
+    manifest_dir
+}