diff --git a/examples/cmake-dataflow/run.rs b/examples/cmake-dataflow/run.rs
index 30e3c9d1..6509286e 100644
--- a/examples/cmake-dataflow/run.rs
+++ b/examples/cmake-dataflow/run.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use dora_tracing::set_up_tracing;
-use eyre::{bail, Context};
-use std::path::Path;
+use eyre::{Context, ContextCompat};
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use xshell::{cmd, Shell};
 
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
@@ -13,60 +14,55 @@ async fn main() -> eyre::Result<()> {
         return Ok(());
     }
 
+    // create a new shell in this folder
+    let sh = prepare_shell()?;
+
+    // build C++ source code using cmake
     let root = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"));
-    std::env::set_current_dir(root.join(file!()).parent().unwrap())
-        .wrap_err("failed to set working dir")?;
+    cmd!(sh, "cmake -DDORA_ROOT_DIR={root} -B build .").run()?;
+    cmd!(sh, "cmake --build build").run()?;
+    cmd!(sh, "cmake --install build").run()?;
 
-    tokio::fs::create_dir_all("build").await?;
-    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new("cmake");
-    cmd.arg(format!("-DDORA_ROOT_DIR={}", root.display()));
-    cmd.arg("-B").arg("build");
-    cmd.arg(".");
-    if !cmd.status().await?.success() {
-        bail!("failed to generating make file");
-    }
+    // build the `dora` binary (you can skip this if you use `cargo install dora-cli`)
+    let dora = prepare_dora(&sh)?;
 
-    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new("cmake");
-    cmd.arg("--build").arg("build");
-    if !cmd.status().await?.success() {
-        bail!("failed to build a cmake-generated project binary tree");
-    }
+    // start up the dora daemon and coordinator
+    cmd!(sh, "{dora} up").run()?;
 
-    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new("cmake");
-    cmd.arg("--install").arg("build");
-    if !cmd.status().await?.success() {
-        bail!("failed to build a cmake-generated project binary tree");
-    }
+    // start running the dataflow.yml -> outputs the UUID assigned to the dataflow
+    let output = cmd!(sh, "{dora} start dataflow.yml --attach").read_stderr()?;
+    let uuid = output.lines().next().context("no output")?;
+
+    // stop the dora daemon and coordinator again
+    cmd!(sh, "{dora} destroy").run()?;
 
-    let dataflow = Path::new("dataflow.yml").to_owned();
-    build_package("dora-runtime").await?;
-    run_dataflow(&dataflow).await?;
+    // verify that the node output was written to `out`
+    sh.change_dir("out");
+    sh.change_dir(uuid);
+    let sink_output = sh.read_file("log_runtime-node-2.txt")?;
+    if sink_output.lines().count() < 20 {
+        eyre::bail!("sink did not receive the expected number of messages")
+    }
 
     Ok(())
 }
 
-async fn build_package(package: &str) -> eyre::Result<()> {
-    let cargo = std::env::var("CARGO").unwrap();
-    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new(&cargo);
-    cmd.arg("build");
-    cmd.arg("--package").arg(package);
-    if !cmd.status().await?.success() {
-        bail!("failed to build {package}");
-    }
-    Ok(())
+/// Prepares a shell and set the working directory to the parent folder of this file.
+///
+/// You can use your system shell instead (e.g. `bash`);
+fn prepare_shell() -> Result<Shell, eyre::Error> {
+    let sh = Shell::new()?;
+    let root = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"));
+    sh.change_dir(root.join(file!()).parent().unwrap());
+    Ok(sh)
 }
 
-async fn run_dataflow(dataflow: &Path) -> eyre::Result<()> {
-    let cargo = std::env::var("CARGO").unwrap();
-    let mut cmd = tokio::process::Command::new(&cargo);
-    cmd.arg("run");
-    cmd.arg("--package").arg("dora-cli");
-    cmd.arg("--")
-        .arg("daemon")
-        .arg("--run-dataflow")
-        .arg(dataflow);
-    if !cmd.status().await?.success() {
-        bail!("failed to run dataflow");
-    };
-    Ok(())
+/// Build the `dora` command-line executable from this repo.
+///
+/// You can skip this step and run `cargo install dora-cli --locked` instead.
+fn prepare_dora(sh: &Shell) -> eyre::Result<PathBuf> {
+    cmd!(sh, "cargo build --package dora-cli").run()?;
+    let root = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"));
+    let dora = root.join("target").join("debug").join("dora");
+    Ok(dora)
 }