diff --git a/project/BuildHelper.scala b/project/BuildHelper.scala
index eda8731f6..66d87dbd6 100644
--- a/project/BuildHelper.scala
+++ b/project/BuildHelper.scala
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import BuildInfoKeys.*
 import scalafix.sbt.ScalafixPlugin.autoImport.*
 import scalanativecrossproject.NativePlatform
 
+import scala.scalanative.build.Mode
 import scala.scalanative.sbtplugin.ScalaNativePlugin.autoImport.nativeConfig
 
 object BuildHelper {
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ object BuildHelper {
   val Scala213: String = versions("2.13")
   val Scala3: String   = versions("3.3")
 
-  val zioVersion                   = "2.1.7"
+  val zioVersion                   = "2.1.9"
   val zioJsonVersion               = "0.7.2"
   val zioPreludeVersion            = "1.0.0-RC28"
   val zioOpticsVersion             = "0.2.2"
@@ -188,7 +189,14 @@ object BuildHelper {
         baseDirectory.value
       )
     },
-    nativeConfig ~= { _.withMultithreading(false) }
+    nativeConfig ~= { cfg =>
+      val os = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase
+      // For some unknown reason, we can't run the test suites in debug mode on MacOS
+      if (os.contains("mac")) cfg.withMode(Mode.releaseFast)
+      else cfg.withGC(GC.boehm) // See https://github.com/scala-native/scala-native/issues/4032
+    },
+    scalacOptions += "-P:scalanative:genStaticForwardersForNonTopLevelObjects",
+    Test / fork := crossProjectPlatform.value == JVMPlatform // set fork to `true` on JVM to improve log readability, JS and Native need `false`
   )
 
   def buildInfoSettings(packageName: String) = Seq(
diff --git a/project/plugins.sbt b/project/plugins.sbt
index c55a5cc1f..d8ea37172 100644
--- a/project/plugins.sbt
+++ b/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ addSbtPlugin("org.portable-scala" % "sbt-scalajs-crossproject"      % "1.3.2")
 addSbtPlugin("com.eed3si9n"       % "sbt-buildinfo"                 % "0.11.0")
 addSbtPlugin("com.github.sbt"     % "sbt-ci-release"                % "1.5.12")
 addSbtPlugin("org.portable-scala" % "sbt-scala-native-crossproject" % "1.3.2")
-addSbtPlugin("org.scala-native"   % "sbt-scala-native"              % "0.5.3")
+addSbtPlugin("org.scala-native"   % "sbt-scala-native"              % "0.5.5")
 addSbtPlugin("pl.project13.scala" % "sbt-jmh"                       % "0.4.6")
 addSbtPlugin("dev.zio"            % "zio-sbt-website"               % "0.4.0-alpha.22")