diff --git a/cli/module_build.go b/cli/module_build.go
index 8b454c256a3..9d52749cbfd 100644
--- a/cli/module_build.go
+++ b/cli/module_build.go
@@ -1324,7 +1324,7 @@ func reloadModuleActionInner(
 					"try --local if you are testing on the same machine.",
 			)
 		}
-		if err := validateReloadableArchive(cmd, manifest.Build); err != nil {
+		if err := validateReloadableArchive(cmd, manifest.Build, manifest.FirstRun); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 
@@ -1475,8 +1475,9 @@ func reloadingDestination(cmd *cli.Command, manifest *ModuleManifest) string {
 }
 
 // validateReloadableArchive returns an error if there is a fatal issue (for now just file not found).
-// It also logs warnings for likely problems.
-func validateReloadableArchive(cmd *cli.Command, build *manifestBuildInfo) error {
+// It also logs warnings for likely problems, such as a missing meta.json or a first_run script
+// declared in the manifest but absent from the archive.
+func validateReloadableArchive(cmd *cli.Command, build *manifestBuildInfo, firstRun string) error {
 	reader, err := os.Open(build.Path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "error opening the build.path field in your meta.json")
@@ -1487,6 +1488,7 @@ func validateReloadableArchive(cmd *cli.Command, build *manifestBuildInfo) error
 	}
 	archive := tar.NewReader(decompressed)
 	metaFound := false
+	firstRunFound := false
 	for {
 		header, err := archive.Next()
 		if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
@@ -1495,14 +1497,26 @@ func validateReloadableArchive(cmd *cli.Command, build *manifestBuildInfo) error
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrapf(err, "reading tar at %s", build.Path)
 		}
-		if header.Name == "meta.json" {
+		name := filepath.Base(header.Name)
+		if name == "meta.json" {
 			metaFound = true
+		}
+		if firstRun != "" && name == filepath.Base(firstRun) {
+			firstRunFound = true
+		}
+		if metaFound && (firstRun == "" || firstRunFound) {
 			break
 		}
 	}
 	if !metaFound {
 		warningf(cmd.Root().ErrWriter, "archive at %s doesn't contain a meta.json, your module will probably fail to start", build.Path)
 	}
+	if firstRun != "" && !firstRunFound {
+		warningf(cmd.Root().ErrWriter,
+			"archive at %s doesn't contain the first_run script %q declared in meta.json; "+
+				"the script will not run on the target machine. Include it in your build artifact",
+			build.Path, firstRun)
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/cli/module_generate/_templates/go/tmpl-Makefile b/cli/module_generate/_templates/go/tmpl-Makefile
index 1399364cbc3..cd069d8df33 100644
--- a/cli/module_generate/_templates/go/tmpl-Makefile
+++ b/cli/module_generate/_templates/go/tmpl-Makefile
@@ -22,11 +22,17 @@ update:
 test:
 	go test ./...
 
+FIRST_RUN := $(shell jq -r '.first_run // empty' meta.json 2>/dev/null)
+TAR_FILES := meta.json $(MODULE_BINARY)
+ifneq ($(FIRST_RUN),)
+TAR_FILES += $(FIRST_RUN)
+endif
+
 module.tar.gz: meta.json $(MODULE_BINARY)
 ifneq ($(VIAM_TARGET_OS), windows)
 	strip $(MODULE_BINARY)
 endif
-	tar czf $@ meta.json $(MODULE_BINARY)
+	tar czf $@ $(TAR_FILES)
 
 module: test module.tar.gz
 
diff --git a/cli/module_generate/_templates/python/build.sh b/cli/module_generate/_templates/python/build.sh
index 3e6a933c3d4..0f2b953f021 100644
--- a/cli/module_generate/_templates/python/build.sh
+++ b/cli/module_generate/_templates/python/build.sh
@@ -10,4 +10,10 @@ if ! $PYTHON -m pip install pyinstaller -Uqq; then
 fi
 
 $PYTHON -m PyInstaller --onefile --hidden-import="googleapiclient" src/main.py
-tar -czvf dist/archive.tar.gz meta.json ./dist/main
+
+TAR_FILES="meta.json ./dist/main"
+FIRST_RUN=$($PYTHON -c "import json; print(json.load(open('meta.json')).get('first_run', ''))" 2>/dev/null)
+if [ -n "$FIRST_RUN" ] && [ -f "$FIRST_RUN" ]; then
+    TAR_FILES="$TAR_FILES $FIRST_RUN"
+fi
+tar -czvf dist/archive.tar.gz $TAR_FILES
diff --git a/cli/module_generate/cpp-gen/src/viam/generator/generator.cpp b/cli/module_generate/cpp-gen/src/viam/generator/generator.cpp
index 3e28745efd7..db298f0bc58 100644
--- a/cli/module_generate/cpp-gen/src/viam/generator/generator.cpp
+++ b/cli/module_generate/cpp-gen/src/viam/generator/generator.cpp
@@ -379,6 +379,12 @@ install(
     DESTINATION .
 )
 
+file(READ "${{CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}}/meta.json" _META_JSON)
+string(JSON _FIRST_RUN ERROR_VARIABLE _FR_ERR GET "${{_META_JSON}}" "first_run")
+if(NOT _FR_ERR AND _FIRST_RUN AND EXISTS "${{CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}}/${{_FIRST_RUN}}")
+    install(FILES "${{_FIRST_RUN}}" DESTINATION .)
+endif()
+
 install(TARGETS {0})
 
 set(CPACK_PACKAGE_NAME "{0}")
@@ -415,6 +421,16 @@ class {0}Recipe(ConanFile):
     # Sources are located in the same place as this recipe, copy them to the recipe
     exports_sources = "CMakeLists.txt", "src/*", "main.cpp", "meta.json"
 
+    def export_sources(self):
+        import json, os
+        from conan.tools.files import copy
+        meta_path = os.path.join(self.recipe_folder, "meta.json")
+        if os.path.exists(meta_path):
+            with open(meta_path) as f:
+                first_run = json.load(f).get("first_run", "")
+            if first_run and os.path.exists(os.path.join(self.recipe_folder, first_run)):
+                copy(self, first_run, src=self.recipe_folder, dst=self.export_sources_folder)
+
     def layout(self):
         cmake_layout(self)