diff --git a/binaries/cli/src/template/c/mod.rs b/binaries/cli/src/template/c/mod.rs
index 7dbf56379a..c89627ec93 100644
--- a/binaries/cli/src/template/c/mod.rs
+++ b/binaries/cli/src/template/c/mod.rs
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ fn create_cmakefile(root: PathBuf, use_path_deps: bool) -> Result<(), eyre::ErrR
     const CMAKEFILE: &str = include_str!("cmake-template.txt");
 
     let cmake_file = if use_path_deps {
-        CMAKEFILE.replace("__DORA_PATH__", super::workspace_dir()?)
+        CMAKEFILE.replace("__DORA_PATH__", &super::workspace_dir()?)
     } else {
         CMAKEFILE.replace("__DORA_PATH__", "")
     };
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ fn create_node_cmakefile(
     let cmake_content = if use_path_deps {
         NODE_CMAKE
             .replace("___name___", name)
-            .replace("__DORA_PATH__", super::workspace_dir()?)
+            .replace("__DORA_PATH__", &super::workspace_dir()?)
     } else {
         NODE_CMAKE
             .replace("___name___", name)
diff --git a/binaries/cli/src/template/cxx/mod.rs b/binaries/cli/src/template/cxx/mod.rs
index b486d6c41f..ee16372b7e 100644
--- a/binaries/cli/src/template/cxx/mod.rs
+++ b/binaries/cli/src/template/cxx/mod.rs
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ fn create_cmakefile(root: PathBuf, use_path_deps: bool) -> Result<(), eyre::ErrR
     const CMAKEFILE: &str = include_str!("cmake-template.txt");
 
     let cmake_file = if use_path_deps {
-        CMAKEFILE.replace("__DORA_PATH__", super::workspace_dir()?)
+        CMAKEFILE.replace("__DORA_PATH__", &super::workspace_dir()?)
     } else {
         CMAKEFILE.replace("__DORA_PATH__", "")
     };
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ fn create_node_cmakefile(
     let cmake_content = if use_path_deps {
         NODE_CMAKE
             .replace("___name___", name)
-            .replace("__DORA_PATH__", super::workspace_dir()?)
+            .replace("__DORA_PATH__", &super::workspace_dir()?)
     } else {
         NODE_CMAKE
             .replace("___name___", name)
diff --git a/binaries/cli/src/template/mod.rs b/binaries/cli/src/template/mod.rs
index cc6b03dbd9..23b0a8cfd0 100644
--- a/binaries/cli/src/template/mod.rs
+++ b/binaries/cli/src/template/mod.rs
@@ -9,14 +9,38 @@ mod rust;
 /// Path to the dora workspace root (two levels above the CLI crate
 /// manifest), used by the C/C++ templates to reference dora via path
 /// dependencies when `use_path_deps` is set.
-fn workspace_dir() -> eyre::Result<&'static str> {
-    Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
+fn workspace_dir() -> eyre::Result<String> {
+    let dir = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
         .parent()
         .context("Could not get manifest parent folder")?
         .parent()
         .context("Could not get manifest grandparent folder")?
         .to_str()
-        .context("dora workspace path is not valid UTF-8")
+        .context("dora workspace path is not valid UTF-8")?;
+    Ok(normalize_for_cmake(dir))
+}
+
+// CMake treats `\` as a string escape character, so a raw Windows path
+// (e.g. `C:\Users\...`) substituted into CMakeLists.txt fails to parse.
+// Both CMake and Windows accept `/`, so normalize before substitution.
+fn normalize_for_cmake(path: &str) -> String {
+    path.replace('\\', "/")
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    // Uses a hardcoded Windows-style sample path rather than the live
+    // `workspace_dir()` output, since on Linux/macOS CI runners the real
+    // path never contains a backslash and the assertion would pass
+    // trivially without exercising the normalization at all.
+    #[test]
+    fn normalize_for_cmake_replaces_backslashes() {
+        let normalized = normalize_for_cmake(r"C:\Users\example\dora");
+        assert_eq!(normalized, "C:/Users/example/dora");
+        assert!(!normalized.contains('\\'));
+    }
 }
 
 pub fn create(args: crate::CommandNew, use_path_deps: bool) -> eyre::Result<()> {