diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 6931718f4879..81de1bab202c 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: build Cannon example binaries
           command: make elf # only compile ELF binaries with Go, we do not have MIPS GCC for creating the debug-dumps.
-          working_directory: cannon/example
+          working_directory: cannon/testdata/example
       - run:
           name: Cannon Go lint
           command: |
diff --git a/cannon/.gitignore b/cannon/.gitignore
index fc1a1f3b9949..c3e45199f0ed 100644
--- a/cannon/.gitignore
+++ b/cannon/.gitignore
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ cache
 venv
 .idea
 *.log
-example/bin
+testdata/example/bin
 contracts/out
 state.json
 *.json
diff --git a/cannon/Makefile b/cannon/Makefile
index f815b9f37474..0240b7df095f 100644
--- a/cannon/Makefile
+++ b/cannon/Makefile
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ clean:
 	rm -rf bin
 
 elf:
-	make -C ./example elf
+	make -C ./testdata/example elf
 
 contract:
 	cd ../packages/contracts-bedrock && forge build
diff --git a/cannon/README.md b/cannon/README.md
index 5ff497162f33..e9e751ce2ffe 100644
--- a/cannon/README.md
+++ b/cannon/README.md
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ The smart-contracts are integrated into the Optimism monorepo contracts:
 
 Example programs that can be run and proven with Cannon.
 Optional dependency, but required for `mipsevm` Go tests.
-See [`example/Makefile`](./example/Makefile) for building the example MIPS binaries.
+See [`testdata/example/Makefile`](./testdata/example/Makefile) for building the example MIPS binaries.
 
 ## License
 
diff --git a/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/instrumented_test.go b/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/instrumented_test.go
index 50382ae18536..c20126d3ca22 100644
--- a/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/instrumented_test.go
+++ b/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/instrumented_test.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func TestInstrumentedState_Claim(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestInstrumentedState_MultithreadedProgram(t *testing.T) {
-	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../example/bin/multithreaded.elf", CreateInitialState, false)
+	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../testdata/example/bin/multithreaded.elf", CreateInitialState, false)
 	oracle := testutil.StaticOracle(t, []byte{})
 
 	var stdOutBuf, stdErrBuf bytes.Buffer
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ func TestInstrumentedState_MultithreadedProgram(t *testing.T) {
 func TestInstrumentedState_Alloc(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Skip("TODO(client-pod#906): Currently failing - need to debug.")
 
-	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../example/bin/alloc.elf", CreateInitialState, false)
+	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../testdata/example/bin/alloc.elf", CreateInitialState, false)
 	const numAllocs = 100 // where each alloc is a 32 MiB chunk
 	oracle := testutil.AllocOracle(t, numAllocs)
 
diff --git a/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/state_test.go b/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/state_test.go
index e6805423b165..e9dbef2db346 100644
--- a/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/state_test.go
+++ b/cannon/mipsevm/multithreaded/state_test.go
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ func TestState_EncodeWitness(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestState_JSONCodec(t *testing.T) {
-	elfProgram, err := elf.Open("../../example/bin/hello.elf")
+	elfProgram, err := elf.Open("../../testdata/example/bin/hello.elf")
 	require.NoError(t, err, "open ELF file")
 	state, err := program.LoadELF(elfProgram, CreateInitialState)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "load ELF into state")
diff --git a/cannon/mipsevm/singlethreaded/state_test.go b/cannon/mipsevm/singlethreaded/state_test.go
index 2ab4a5009b0e..27588f8b67ed 100644
--- a/cannon/mipsevm/singlethreaded/state_test.go
+++ b/cannon/mipsevm/singlethreaded/state_test.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func TestStateHash(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestStateJSONCodec(t *testing.T) {
-	elfProgram, err := elf.Open("../../example/bin/hello.elf")
+	elfProgram, err := elf.Open("../../testdata/example/bin/hello.elf")
 	require.NoError(t, err, "open ELF file")
 	state, err := program.LoadELF(elfProgram, CreateInitialState)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "load ELF into state")
diff --git a/cannon/mipsevm/tests/evm_test.go b/cannon/mipsevm/tests/evm_test.go
index 361a924eb34d..f7ca26589c80 100644
--- a/cannon/mipsevm/tests/evm_test.go
+++ b/cannon/mipsevm/tests/evm_test.go
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ func TestHelloEVM(t *testing.T) {
 	evm.SetTracer(tracer)
 	testutil.LogStepFailureAtCleanup(t, evm)
 
-	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../example/bin/hello.elf", singlethreaded.CreateInitialState, true)
+	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../testdata/example/bin/hello.elf", singlethreaded.CreateInitialState, true)
 	var stdOutBuf, stdErrBuf bytes.Buffer
 	goState := singlethreaded.NewInstrumentedState(state, nil, io.MultiWriter(&stdOutBuf, os.Stdout), io.MultiWriter(&stdErrBuf, os.Stderr), nil)
 
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ func TestClaimEVM(t *testing.T) {
 	evm.SetTracer(tracer)
 	testutil.LogStepFailureAtCleanup(t, evm)
 
-	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../example/bin/claim.elf", singlethreaded.CreateInitialState, true)
+	state := testutil.LoadELFProgram(t, "../../testdata/example/bin/claim.elf", singlethreaded.CreateInitialState, true)
 	oracle, expectedStdOut, expectedStdErr := testutil.ClaimTestOracle(t)
 
 	var stdOutBuf, stdErrBuf bytes.Buffer
diff --git a/cannon/mipsevm/testutil/vmtests.go b/cannon/mipsevm/testutil/vmtests.go
index 71bb9937f224..c016b91e076a 100644
--- a/cannon/mipsevm/testutil/vmtests.go
+++ b/cannon/mipsevm/testutil/vmtests.go
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ func RunVMTests_OpenMips[T mipsevm.FPVMState](t *testing.T, stateFactory StateFa
 }
 
 func RunVMTest_Hello[T mipsevm.FPVMState](t *testing.T, initState program.CreateInitialFPVMState[T], vmFactory VMFactory[T], doPatchGo bool) {
-	state := LoadELFProgram(t, "../../example/bin/hello.elf", initState, doPatchGo)
+	state := LoadELFProgram(t, "../../testdata/example/bin/hello.elf", initState, doPatchGo)
 
 	var stdOutBuf, stdErrBuf bytes.Buffer
 	us := vmFactory(state, nil, io.MultiWriter(&stdOutBuf, os.Stdout), io.MultiWriter(&stdErrBuf, os.Stderr), CreateLogger())
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ func RunVMTest_Hello[T mipsevm.FPVMState](t *testing.T, initState program.Create
 }
 
 func RunVMTest_Claim[T mipsevm.FPVMState](t *testing.T, initState program.CreateInitialFPVMState[T], vmFactory VMFactory[T], doPatchGo bool) {
-	state := LoadELFProgram(t, "../../example/bin/claim.elf", initState, doPatchGo)
+	state := LoadELFProgram(t, "../../testdata/example/bin/claim.elf", initState, doPatchGo)
 
 	oracle, expectedStdOut, expectedStdErr := ClaimTestOracle(t)
 
diff --git a/cannon/testdata/README.md b/cannon/testdata/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4730cac00b0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cannon/testdata/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Cannon testdata
+
+These example Go programs are used in tests,
+and encapsulated as their own Go modules.
+
+## Testdata
+
+The `testdata` directory name (special Go exception) prevents tools like `go mod tidy`
+that run from the monorepo root from picking up on the test data,
+preventing noisy dependabot PRs.
+
diff --git a/cannon/example/Makefile b/cannon/testdata/example/Makefile
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/Makefile
rename to cannon/testdata/example/Makefile
diff --git a/cannon/example/alloc/go.mod b/cannon/testdata/example/alloc/go.mod
similarity index 98%
rename from cannon/example/alloc/go.mod
rename to cannon/testdata/example/alloc/go.mod
index d2e4bd2239f3..5ead2ebe8af6 100644
--- a/cannon/example/alloc/go.mod
+++ b/cannon/testdata/example/alloc/go.mod
@@ -11,4 +11,4 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.22.0 // indirect
 )
 
-replace github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism v0.0.0 => ../../..
+replace github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism v0.0.0 => ../../../..
diff --git a/cannon/example/alloc/go.sum b/cannon/testdata/example/alloc/go.sum
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/alloc/go.sum
rename to cannon/testdata/example/alloc/go.sum
diff --git a/cannon/example/alloc/main.go b/cannon/testdata/example/alloc/main.go
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/alloc/main.go
rename to cannon/testdata/example/alloc/main.go
diff --git a/cannon/example/claim/go.mod b/cannon/testdata/example/claim/go.mod
similarity index 98%
rename from cannon/example/claim/go.mod
rename to cannon/testdata/example/claim/go.mod
index b7417d15317b..dfbd45f6f57c 100644
--- a/cannon/example/claim/go.mod
+++ b/cannon/testdata/example/claim/go.mod
@@ -11,4 +11,4 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.22.0 // indirect
 )
 
-replace github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism v0.0.0 => ../../..
+replace github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism v0.0.0 => ../../../..
diff --git a/cannon/example/claim/go.sum b/cannon/testdata/example/claim/go.sum
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/claim/go.sum
rename to cannon/testdata/example/claim/go.sum
diff --git a/cannon/example/claim/main.go b/cannon/testdata/example/claim/main.go
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/claim/main.go
rename to cannon/testdata/example/claim/main.go
diff --git a/cannon/example/hello/go.mod b/cannon/testdata/example/hello/go.mod
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/hello/go.mod
rename to cannon/testdata/example/hello/go.mod
diff --git a/cannon/example/hello/main.go b/cannon/testdata/example/hello/main.go
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/hello/main.go
rename to cannon/testdata/example/hello/main.go
diff --git a/cannon/example/multithreaded/go.mod b/cannon/testdata/example/multithreaded/go.mod
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/multithreaded/go.mod
rename to cannon/testdata/example/multithreaded/go.mod
diff --git a/cannon/example/multithreaded/main.go b/cannon/testdata/example/multithreaded/main.go
similarity index 100%
rename from cannon/example/multithreaded/main.go
rename to cannon/testdata/example/multithreaded/main.go