diff --git a/src/cli/parse.ts b/src/cli/parse.ts
index a49510780..2b9885e59 100644
--- a/src/cli/parse.ts
+++ b/src/cli/parse.ts
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ export function updateParsedConfigFile(parsedConfigFile: ts.ParsedCommandLine):
         }
     }
 
+    Object.assign(parsedConfigFile.options, { projectReferences: parsedConfigFile.projectReferences });
+
     return parsedConfigFile;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/cli/tsconfig.ts b/src/cli/tsconfig.ts
index bc6fb5ae9..1e599cd63 100644
--- a/src/cli/tsconfig.ts
+++ b/src/cli/tsconfig.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,14 @@ export function parseConfigFileWithSystem(
     commandLineOptions?: CompilerOptions,
     system = ts.sys
 ): ParsedCommandLine {
+    if (!system.fileExists(configFileName)) {
+        return {
+            options: {},
+            fileNames: [configFileName],
+            errors: [cliDiagnostics.theSpecifiedPathDoesNotExist(configFileName)],
+        };
+    }
+
     const parsedConfigFile = ts.parseJsonSourceFileConfigFileContent(
         ts.readJsonConfigFile(configFileName, system.readFile),
         system,
diff --git a/src/transpilation/index.ts b/src/transpilation/index.ts
index d4e890719..8d5dcbbe0 100644
--- a/src/transpilation/index.ts
+++ b/src/transpilation/index.ts
@@ -19,11 +19,10 @@ export function transpileFiles(
     writeFile?: ts.WriteFileCallback
 ): EmitResult {
     const program = ts.createProgram(rootNames, options);
-    const preEmitDiagnostics = ts.getPreEmitDiagnostics(program);
     const { diagnostics: transpileDiagnostics, emitSkipped } = new Transpiler().emit({ program, writeFile });
-    const diagnostics = ts.sortAndDeduplicateDiagnostics([...preEmitDiagnostics, ...transpileDiagnostics]);
+    const diagnostics = ts.sortAndDeduplicateDiagnostics(transpileDiagnostics);
 
-    return { diagnostics: [...diagnostics], emitSkipped };
+    return { diagnostics, emitSkipped };
 }
 
 export function transpileProject(
@@ -96,10 +95,9 @@ export function transpileVirtualProject(
     options: CompilerOptions = {}
 ): TranspileVirtualProjectResult {
     const program = createVirtualProgram(files, options);
-    const preEmitDiagnostics = ts.getPreEmitDiagnostics(program);
     const collector = createEmitOutputCollector();
     const { diagnostics: transpileDiagnostics } = new Transpiler().emit({ program, writeFile: collector.writeFile });
-    const diagnostics = ts.sortAndDeduplicateDiagnostics([...preEmitDiagnostics, ...transpileDiagnostics]);
+    const diagnostics = ts.sortAndDeduplicateDiagnostics(transpileDiagnostics);
 
     return { diagnostics: [...diagnostics], transpiledFiles: collector.files };
 }
diff --git a/src/transpilation/transpile.ts b/src/transpilation/transpile.ts
index 6adfa5fc4..222345bdb 100644
--- a/src/transpilation/transpile.ts
+++ b/src/transpilation/transpile.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { Plugin } from "./plugins";
 import { getTransformers } from "./transformers";
 import { EmitHost, ProcessedFile } from "./utils";
 import * as performance from "../measure-performance";
+import { parseConfigFileWithSystem } from "../cli/tsconfig";
 
 export interface TranspileOptions {
     program: ts.Program;
@@ -30,13 +31,38 @@ export function getProgramTranspileResult(
 
     const options = program.getCompilerOptions() as CompilerOptions;
 
-    if (options.tstlVerbose) {
-        console.log("Parsing project settings");
-    }
+    if (options.tstlVerbose) console.log("Parsing project settings");
 
     const diagnostics = validateOptions(options);
+
     let transpiledFiles: ProcessedFile[] = [];
 
+    if (options.build) {
+        for (const projectReferences of options.projectReferences ?? [])
+        {
+            if (options.tstlVerbose) console.log(`Build mode: Checking reference ${projectReferences.path}`);
+
+            const tsConfigPath = path.join(projectReferences.path, "tsconfig.json");
+            // Parse reference path but stay in build mode
+            const parseResult = parseConfigFileWithSystem(tsConfigPath, { build: true });
+            diagnostics.push(...parseResult.errors);
+
+            if (parseResult.errors.length === 0) {
+                const referenceProgram = ts.createProgram(parseResult.fileNames, parseResult.options);
+                const referencePreEmitDiagnostics = ts.getPreEmitDiagnostics(referenceProgram);
+                const { diagnostics: referenceDiagnostics, transpiledFiles: referenceFiles } = getProgramTranspileResult(emitHost, writeFileResult, { program: referenceProgram });
+                diagnostics.push(...referencePreEmitDiagnostics, ...referenceDiagnostics);
+
+                if (projectReferences.prepend)
+                {
+                    transpiledFiles.push(...referenceFiles);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    // diagnostics.push(...ts.getPreEmitDiagnostics(program));
+
     if (options.noEmitOnError) {
         const preEmitDiagnostics = [
             ...diagnostics,
diff --git a/src/typescript-internal.d.ts b/src/typescript-internal.d.ts
index 8d85b9374..5087d39f5 100644
--- a/src/typescript-internal.d.ts
+++ b/src/typescript-internal.d.ts
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@ declare module "typescript" {
     }
 
     interface CompilerOptions {
+        build?: boolean;
         configFile?: TsConfigSourceFile;
         configFilePath?: string;
+        projectReferences?: ProjectReference[];
     }
 
     interface TypeChecker {
diff --git a/test/transpile/project-references.spec.ts b/test/transpile/project-references.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89cff18b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/project-references.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import * as path from "path";
+import * as tstl from "../../src";
+
+test("should transpile all projects with --build", () => {
+    const solutionDir = path.join(__dirname, "project-references", "project-references");
+    const projectDir= path.join(solutionDir, "mainproject");
+
+    const { diagnostics } = tstl.transpileProject(path.join(projectDir, "tsconfig.json"), {build: true});
+
+    expect(diagnostics).toHaveLength(0);
+    // expect(transpiledFiles.some(f => f.outPath === path.join(solutionDir, "dist", "main.lua"))).toBe(true);
+});
diff --git a/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/.gitignore b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..53c37a166
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+dist
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/dependency/src/index.ts b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/dependency/src/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..997e646a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/dependency/src/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function getNumber() {
+    return 200;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/dependency/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/dependency/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a3afaa865
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/dependency/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "composite": true,
+    "outDir": "dist"
+  },
+  "include": [
+    "src/**/*.ts"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/mainproject/src/main.ts b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/mainproject/src/main.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9854ad100
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/mainproject/src/main.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import { getNumber } from "../../dependency/src";
+
+export const result = getNumber();
diff --git a/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/mainproject/tsconfig.json b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/mainproject/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a53351ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/transpile/project-references/project-references/mainproject/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+{
+    "compilerOptions": {
+        "rootDir": "src",
+        "outDir": "../dist",
+        "strict": true
+    },
+    "references": [
+        {
+            "path": "../dependency"
+        }
+    ],
+    "tstl": {
+        "luaTarget": "JIT",
+        "sourceMapTraceback": true,
+        "luaBundle": "bundle.lua",
+        "luaBundleEntry": "main.ts"
+    },
+    "include": ["src/**/*.ts"]
+}
diff --git a/test/util.ts b/test/util.ts
index ffc6bac68..ca232d2df 100644
--- a/test/util.ts
+++ b/test/util.ts
@@ -583,7 +583,9 @@ class ExpressionTestBuilder extends AccessorTestBuilder {
 class ProjectTestBuilder extends ModuleTestBuilder {
     constructor(private tsConfig: string) {
         super("");
-        this.setOptions({ configFilePath: this.tsConfig, ...tstl.parseConfigFileWithSystem(this.tsConfig) });
+        const options = { configFilePath: this.tsConfig };
+        Object.assign(options, tstl.parseConfigFileWithSystem(this.tsConfig));
+        this.setOptions(options);
     }
 
     @memoize