diff --git a/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/deploy.go b/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/deploy.go
index 43068569e..42f08d139 100644
--- a/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/deploy.go
+++ b/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/deploy.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
@@ -44,11 +45,12 @@ func newDeployCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	If required, you can override the IP addresses that are used for a deployment by specifying "--ips" and a list of IP addresses.
 	Specifying --bootstrapper will upload the bootstrapper from the specified path.`,
 		RunE:    runDeploy,
-		Example: "cdbg deploy\ncdbg deploy --config /path/to/config\ncdbg deploy --bootstrapper /path/to/bootstrapper --ips 192.0.2.1,192.0.2.2,192.0.2.3 --config /path/to/config",
+		Example: "cdbg deploy\ncdbg deploy -C /path/to/workspace --bindir $(pwd)\ncdbg deploy -C /path/to/workspace --bootstrapper /path/to/bootstrapper --ips 192.0.2.1,192.0.2.2,192.0.2.3",
 	}
 	deployCmd.Flags().StringSlice("ips", nil, "override the ips that the bootstrapper will be uploaded to (defaults to ips from constellation config)")
-	deployCmd.Flags().String("bootstrapper", "./bootstrapper", "override the path to the bootstrapper binary uploaded to instances")
-	deployCmd.Flags().String("upgrade-agent", "./upgrade-agent", "override the path to the upgrade-agent binary uploaded to instances")
+	deployCmd.Flags().String("bindir", "", "override the base path that binaries are read from")
+	deployCmd.Flags().String("bootstrapper", "bootstrapper", "override the path to the bootstrapper binary uploaded to instances")
+	deployCmd.Flags().String("upgrade-agent", "upgrade-agent", "override the path to the upgrade-agent binary uploaded to instances")
 	deployCmd.Flags().StringToString("info", nil, "additional info to be passed to the debugd, in the form --info key1=value1,key2=value2")
 	deployCmd.Flags().Int("verbosity", 0, logger.CmdLineVerbosityDescription)
 	return deployCmd
@@ -60,10 +62,6 @@ func runDeploy(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	log := logger.New(logger.PlainLog, logger.VerbosityFromInt(verbosity))
-	configName, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("config")
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("parsing config path argument: %w", err)
-	}
 	force, err := cmd.Flags().GetBool("force")
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("getting force flag: %w", err)
@@ -73,7 +71,7 @@ func runDeploy(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 	fileHandler := file.NewHandler(fs)
 	streamer := streamer.New(fs)
 	transfer := filetransfer.New(log, streamer, filetransfer.ShowProgress)
-	constellationConfig, err := config.New(fileHandler, configName, attestationconfigapi.NewFetcher(), force)
+	constellationConfig, err := config.New(fileHandler, constants.ConfigFilename, attestationconfigapi.NewFetcher(), force)
 	var configValidationErr *config.ValidationError
 	if errors.As(err, &configValidationErr) {
 		cmd.PrintErrln(configValidationErr.LongMessage())
@@ -88,6 +86,10 @@ func deploy(cmd *cobra.Command, fileHandler file.Handler, constellationConfig *c
 	transfer fileTransferer,
 	log *logger.Logger,
 ) error {
+	binDir, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("bindir")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	bootstrapperPath, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("bootstrapper")
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -129,13 +131,13 @@ func deploy(cmd *cobra.Command, fileHandler file.Handler, constellationConfig *c
 
 	files := []filetransfer.FileStat{
 		{
-			SourcePath:          bootstrapperPath,
+			SourcePath:          prependBinDir(binDir, bootstrapperPath),
 			TargetPath:          debugd.BootstrapperDeployFilename,
 			Mode:                debugd.BinaryAccessMode,
 			OverrideServiceUnit: "constellation-bootstrapper",
 		},
 		{
-			SourcePath:          upgradeAgentPath,
+			SourcePath:          prependBinDir(binDir, upgradeAgentPath),
 			TargetPath:          debugd.UpgradeAgentDeployFilename,
 			Mode:                debugd.BinaryAccessMode,
 			OverrideServiceUnit: "constellation-upgrade-agent",
@@ -158,6 +160,13 @@ func deploy(cmd *cobra.Command, fileHandler file.Handler, constellationConfig *c
 	return nil
 }
 
+func prependBinDir(bindDir, binary string) string {
+	if len(bindDir) == 0 || filepath.IsAbs(binary) {
+		return binary
+	}
+	return filepath.Join(bindDir, binary)
+}
+
 type deployOnEndpointInput struct {
 	debugdEndpoint string
 	files          []filetransfer.FileStat
diff --git a/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/root.go b/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/root.go
index d9d809db6..b9b3fae67 100644
--- a/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/root.go
+++ b/debugd/internal/cdbg/cmd/root.go
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
-	"github.com/edgelesssys/constellation/v2/internal/constants"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
@@ -20,10 +20,13 @@ func newRootCmd() *cobra.Command {
 		Short: "Constellation debugging client",
 		Long: `cdbg is the constellation debugging client.
 	It connects to Constellation instances running debugd and deploys a self-compiled version of the bootstrapper.`,
+		PersistentPreRunE: preRunRoot,
 	}
-	cmd.PersistentFlags().String("config", constants.ConfigFilename, "Constellation config file")
+	cmd.PersistentFlags().StringP("workspace", "C", "", "path to the Constellation workspace")
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().Bool("force", false, "disables version validation errors - might result in corrupted clusters")
 
+	must(cmd.MarkPersistentFlagDirname("workspace"))
+
 	cmd.AddCommand(newDeployCmd())
 	return cmd
 }
@@ -35,3 +38,28 @@ func Execute() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
+
+func preRunRoot(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
+	cmd.SilenceUsage = true
+
+	workspace, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("workspace")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("getting workspace flag: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// Change to workspace directory if set.
+	if workspace != "" {
+		if err := os.Chdir(workspace); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("changing from current directory to workspace %q: %w", workspace, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func must(err error) {
+	if err == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	panic(err)
+}