Setting (expand_aliases_in_sandbox) should re-run the action First, we create an action and make it depend on an alias $ cat >dune-project < (lang dune 3.11) > EOF $ export DUNE_SANDBOX=symlink $ cat >dune < (rule > (alias bar) > (action (with-stdout-to alias-dep (echo "")))) > (rule > (alias foo) > (deps (alias bar)) > (action (system "find . | sort"))) > EOF $ dune build @foo . Now we set (expand_aliases_in_sandbox), and re-run the action. $ cat >dune-project < (lang dune 3.11) > (expand_aliases_in_sandbox) > EOF $ dune build @foo . ./alias-dep The above output should include the files that we depend on via the alias expansion.