diff --git a/gnovm/cmd/gno/transpile.go b/gnovm/cmd/gno/transpile.go
index 2e12ee6f4b3..156d6823636 100644
--- a/gnovm/cmd/gno/transpile.go
+++ b/gnovm/cmd/gno/transpile.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 type transpileCfg struct {
 	verbose     bool
 	rootDir     string
+	extraDirs   string
 	skipImports bool
 	gobuild     bool
 	goBinary    string
@@ -94,6 +95,13 @@ func (c *transpileCfg) RegisterFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 		"clone location of github.com/gnolang/gno (gno tries to guess it)",
 	)
 
+	fs.StringVar(
+		&c.extraDirs,
+		"extra-dirs",
+		"",
+		"extra directories to look for packages in",
+	)
+
 	fs.BoolVar(
 		&c.skipImports,
 		"skip-imports",
@@ -251,7 +259,7 @@ func transpileFile(srcPath string, opts *transpileOptions) error {
 	targetFilename, tags := transpiler.TranspiledFilenameAndTags(srcPath)
 
 	// preprocess.
-	transpileRes, err := transpiler.Transpile(string(source), tags, srcPath)
+	transpileRes, err := transpiler.Transpile(string(source), tags, srcPath, strings.Split(opts.cfg.extraDirs, ","))
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("transpile: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler.go b/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler.go
index bd4bb1b1bc9..841c831cfcc 100644
--- a/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler.go
+++ b/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler.go
@@ -10,9 +10,11 @@ import (
 	"go/parser"
 	goscanner "go/scanner"
 	"go/token"
+	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ func TranspiledFilenameAndTags(gnoFilePath string) (targetFilename, tags string)
 // Transpile performs transpilation on the given source code. tags can be used
 // to specify build tags; and filename helps generate useful error messages and
 // discriminate between test and normal source files.
-func Transpile(source, tags, filename string) (*Result, error) {
+func Transpile(source, tags, filename string, extraDirs []string) (*Result, error) {
 	fset := token.NewFileSet()
 	f, err := parser.ParseFile(fset, filename, source,
 		// SkipObjectResolution -- unused here.
@@ -87,7 +89,8 @@ func Transpile(source, tags, filename string) (*Result, error) {
 
 	isTestFile := strings.HasSuffix(filename, "_test.gno") || strings.HasSuffix(filename, "_filetest.gno")
 	ctx := &transpileCtx{
-		rootDir: gnoenv.RootDir(),
+		rootDir:   gnoenv.RootDir(),
+		extraDirs: extraDirs,
 	}
 	stdlibPrefix := filepath.Join(ctx.rootDir, "gnovm", "stdlibs")
 	if isTestFile {
@@ -142,6 +145,9 @@ type transpileCtx struct {
 	// If rootDir is given, we will check that the directory of the import path
 	// exists (using rootDir/packageDirLocation()).
 	rootDir string
+	// If extraDirs is given, we will check that the directory of the import path
+	// exists (using rootDir/packageDirLocation()).
+	extraDirs []string
 	// This should be set if we're working with a file from a standard library.
 	// This allows us to easily check if a function has a native binding, and as
 	// such modify its call expressions appropriately.
@@ -165,7 +171,41 @@ func (ctx *transpileCtx) transformFile(fset *token.FileSet, f *ast.File) (*ast.F
 				continue
 			}
 
-			if ctx.rootDir != "" {
+			foundInExtra := false
+			for _, extraDir := range ctx.extraDirs {
+				// TODO: find packages once
+				modFiles := []string{}
+				if err := filepath.Walk(extraDir, func(path string, info fs.FileInfo, err error) error {
+					if !strings.HasSuffix(path, "/gno.mod") {
+						return nil
+					}
+					modFiles = append(modFiles, path)
+					return nil
+				}); err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				packageNames := []string{}
+				for _, modFile := range modFiles {
+					modData, err := os.ReadFile(modFile)
+					if err != nil {
+						continue
+					}
+					re := regexp.MustCompile(`^module (.+)`)
+					res := re.FindSubmatch(modData)
+					if len(res) != 2 {
+						continue
+					}
+					packageNames = append(packageNames, string(res[1]))
+				}
+
+				for _, pn := range packageNames {
+					if pn == importPath {
+						foundInExtra = true
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			if !foundInExtra && ctx.rootDir != "" {
 				dirPath := filepath.Join(ctx.rootDir, PackageDirLocation(importPath))
 				if _, err := os.Stat(dirPath); err != nil {
 					if !os.IsNotExist(err) {
diff --git a/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler_test.go b/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler_test.go
index 2a0707f7f79..bd341935cc1 100644
--- a/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler_test.go
+++ b/gnovm/pkg/transpiler/transpiler_test.go
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ func testfunc() {
 			if filename == "" {
 				filename = "foo.gno"
 			}
-			res, err := Transpile(source, c.tags, filename)
+			res, err := Transpile(source, c.tags, filename, nil)
 
 			if c.expectedError != "" {
 				require.EqualError(t, err, c.expectedError)
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index a7f0d4b0ca4..771712ef918 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway/v2 v2.20.0 // indirect
 	github.com/lucasb-eyer/go-colorful v1.2.0 // indirect
 	github.com/nxadm/tail v1.4.11 // indirect
+	github.com/onsi/gomega v1.27.10 // indirect
 	github.com/pkg/errors v0.9.1 // indirect
 	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.4.3 // indirect
 	github.com/zondax/hid v0.9.2 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index d563396d801..64cc9959e73 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -121,8 +121,9 @@ github.com/onsi/ginkgo v1.14.0/go.mod h1:iSB4RoI2tjJc9BBv4NKIKWKya62Rps+oPG/Lv9k
 github.com/onsi/gomega v1.4.1/go.mod h1:C1qb7wdrVGGVU+Z6iS04AVkA3Q65CEZX59MT0QO5uiA=
 github.com/onsi/gomega v1.4.3/go.mod h1:ex+gbHU/CVuBBDIJjb2X0qEXbFg53c61hWP/1CpauHY=
 github.com/onsi/gomega v1.7.1/go.mod h1:XdKZgCCFLUoM/7CFJVPcG8C1xQ1AJ0vpAezJrB7JYyY=
-github.com/onsi/gomega v1.10.1 h1:o0+MgICZLuZ7xjH7Vx6zS/zcu93/BEp1VwkIW1mEXCE=
 github.com/onsi/gomega v1.10.1/go.mod h1:iN09h71vgCQne3DLsj+A5owkum+a2tYe+TOCB1ybHNo=
+github.com/onsi/gomega v1.27.10 h1:naR28SdDFlqrG6kScpT8VWpu1xWY5nJRCF3XaYyBjhI=
+github.com/onsi/gomega v1.27.10/go.mod h1:RsS8tutOdbdgzbPtzzATp12yT7kM5I5aElG3evPbQ0M=
 github.com/pelletier/go-toml v1.9.5 h1:4yBQzkHv+7BHq2PQUZF3Mx0IYxG7LsP222s7Agd3ve8=
 github.com/pelletier/go-toml v1.9.5/go.mod h1:u1nR/EPcESfeI/szUZKdtJ0xRNbUoANCkoOuaOx1Y+c=
 github.com/peterbourgon/ff/v3 v3.4.0 h1:QBvM/rizZM1cB0p0lGMdmR7HxZeI/ZrBWB4DqLkMUBc=
@@ -246,7 +247,6 @@ golang.org/x/tools v0.19.0 h1:tfGCXNR1OsFG+sVdLAitlpjAvD/I6dHDKnYrpEZUHkw=
 golang.org/x/tools v0.19.0/go.mod h1:qoJWxmGSIBmAeriMx19ogtrEPrGtDbPK634QFIcLAhc=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20190717185122-a985d3407aa7/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20191204190536-9bdfabe68543/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
-golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20200804184101-5ec99f83aff1 h1:go1bK/D/BFZV2I8cIQd1NKEZ+0owSTG1fDTci4IqFcE=
 golang.org/x/xerrors v0.0.0-20200804184101-5ec99f83aff1/go.mod h1:I/5z698sn9Ka8TeJc9MKroUUfqBBauWjQqLJ2OPfmY0=
 google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api v0.0.0-20240520151616-dc85e6b867a5 h1:P8OJ/WCl/Xo4E4zoe4/bifHpSmmKwARqyqE4nW6J2GQ=
 google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api v0.0.0-20240520151616-dc85e6b867a5/go.mod h1:RGnPtTG7r4i8sPlNyDeikXF99hMM+hN6QMm4ooG9g2g=
@@ -271,8 +271,6 @@ gopkg.in/tomb.v1 v1.0.0-20141024135613-dd632973f1e7/go.mod h1:dt/ZhP58zS4L8KSrWD
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.1/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.4/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.3.0/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
-gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 h1:D8xgwECY7CYvx+Y2n4sBz93Jn9JRvxdiyyo8CTfuKaY=
-gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0/go.mod h1:RDklbk79AGWmwhnvt/jBztapEOGDOx6ZbXqjP6csGnQ=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1 h1:fxVm/GzAzEWqLHuvctI91KS9hhNmmWOoWu0XTYJS7CA=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=