diff --git a/examples/build_options.zig b/examples/build_options.zig
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d0f22b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/build_options.zig
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// Stub build_options for standalone example builds (zig build-exe).
+// When using `zig build` from the repo root, the real build_options module is
+// generated by the build system.  This file is only needed when invoking
+// zig build-exe directly from the examples/ directory.
+pub const macos_fsevents = false;
+pub const install_tests = false;
diff --git a/examples/simple-default.zig b/examples/simple-default.zig
index 24ee823..123f00b 100644
--- a/examples/simple-default.zig
+++ b/examples/simple-default.zig
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 //!
 //! Build and run (from this directory):
 //!
-//!   zig build-exe --dep nightwatch -Msimple-default=simple-default.zig -Mnightwatch=../src/nightwatch.zig
+//!   zig build-exe \
+//!     --dep nightwatch -Msimple-default=simple-default.zig \
+//!     --dep build_options -Mnightwatch=../src/nightwatch.zig \
+//!     -Mbuild_options=build_options.zig
 //!   ./simple-default
 
 const nightwatch = @import("nightwatch");
diff --git a/examples/simple-polling.zig b/examples/simple-polling.zig
index 15df2da..e3519a4 100644
--- a/examples/simple-polling.zig
+++ b/examples/simple-polling.zig
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 //!
 //! Build and run (from this directory):
 //!
-//!   zig build-exe --dep nightwatch -Msimple-polling=simple-polling.zig -Mnightwatch=../src/nightwatch.zig
+//!   zig build-exe \
+//!     --dep nightwatch -Msimple-polling=simple-polling.zig \
+//!     --dep build_options -Mnightwatch=../src/nightwatch.zig \
+//!     -Mbuild_options=build_options.zig
 //!   ./simple-polling
 
 const nightwatch = @import("nightwatch");
diff --git a/examples/simple-variant.zig b/examples/simple-variant.zig
index 146b410..a2d2c60 100644
--- a/examples/simple-variant.zig
+++ b/examples/simple-variant.zig
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 //!
 //! Build and run (from this directory):
 //!
-//!   zig build-exe --dep nightwatch -Msimple-variant=simple-variant.zig -Mnightwatch=../src/nightwatch.zig
+//!   zig build-exe \
+//!     --dep nightwatch -Msimple-variant=simple-variant.zig \
+//!     --dep build_options -Mnightwatch=../src/nightwatch.zig \
+//!     -Mbuild_options=build_options.zig
 //!   ./simple-variant
 
 const nightwatch = @import("nightwatch");