diff --git a/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/integration_tests/build.test.ts b/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/integration_tests/build.test.ts
index 2d49132cb112..fac2ec1b53e3 100644
--- a/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/integration_tests/build.test.ts
+++ b/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/integration_tests/build.test.ts
@@ -42,12 +42,17 @@ import globby from 'globby';
 import loadJsonFile from 'load-json-file';
 
 const OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION = '1.0.0';
+const OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION_X = '1.0.0.x';
 const PLUGIN_DIR = Path.resolve(REPO_ROOT, 'plugins/foo_test_plugin');
 const PLUGIN_BUILD_DIR = Path.resolve(PLUGIN_DIR, 'build');
 const PLUGIN_ARCHIVE = Path.resolve(
   PLUGIN_BUILD_DIR,
   `fooTestPlugin-${OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION}.zip`
 );
+const PLUGIN_ARCHIVE_X = Path.resolve(
+  PLUGIN_BUILD_DIR,
+  `fooTestPlugin-${OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION_X}.zip`
+);
 const TMP_DIR = Path.resolve(__dirname, '__tmp__');
 
 expect.addSnapshotSerializer(createReplaceSerializer(/[\d\.]+ sec/g, '<time>'));
@@ -150,3 +155,92 @@ it('builds a generated plugin into a viable archive', async () => {
     }
   `);
 });
+
+it('builds a non-semver generated plugin into a viable archive', async () => {
+  const generateProc = await execa(
+    process.execPath,
+    ['scripts/generate_plugin', '-y', '--name', 'fooTestPlugin'],
+    {
+      cwd: REPO_ROOT,
+      all: true,
+    }
+  );
+
+  expect(generateProc.all).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+    " succ 🎉
+
+          Your plugin has been created in plugins/foo_test_plugin
+    "
+  `);
+
+  const buildProc = await execa(
+    process.execPath,
+    [
+      '../../scripts/plugin_helpers',
+      'build',
+      '--opensearch-dashboards-version',
+      OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION_X,
+    ],
+    {
+      cwd: PLUGIN_DIR,
+      all: true,
+    }
+  );
+
+  expect(buildProc.all).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+    " info deleting the build and target directories
+     info running @osd/optimizer
+     │ info initialized, 0 bundles cached
+     │ info starting worker [1 bundle]
+     │ warn worker stderr Browserslist: caniuse-lite is outdated. Please run:
+     │ warn worker stderr npx browserslist@latest --update-db
+     │ succ 1 bundles compiled successfully after <time>
+     info copying assets from \`public/assets\` to build
+     info copying server source into the build and converting with babel
+     info running yarn to install dependencies
+     info compressing plugin into [fooTestPlugin-1.0.0.x.zip]"
+  `);
+
+  await extract(PLUGIN_ARCHIVE_X, { dir: TMP_DIR }, () => {});
+
+  const files = await globby(['**/*'], { cwd: TMP_DIR });
+  files.sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b));
+
+  expect(files).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+    Array [
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/common/index.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/opensearch_dashboards.json",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/package.json",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/server/index.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/server/plugin.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/server/routes/index.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/server/types.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/target/public/fooTestPlugin.chunk.1.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/target/public/fooTestPlugin.chunk.1.js.br",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/target/public/fooTestPlugin.chunk.1.js.gz",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/target/public/fooTestPlugin.plugin.js",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/target/public/fooTestPlugin.plugin.js.br",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/target/public/fooTestPlugin.plugin.js.gz",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/translations/ja-JP.json",
+      "opensearch-dashboards/fooTestPlugin/tsconfig.json",
+    ]
+  `);
+
+  expect(
+    loadJsonFile.sync(
+      Path.resolve(TMP_DIR, 'opensearch-dashboards', 'fooTestPlugin', 'opensearch_dashboards.json')
+    )
+  ).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+    Object {
+      "id": "fooTestPlugin",
+      "opensearchDashboardsVersion": "1.0.0.x",
+      "optionalPlugins": Array [],
+      "requiredPlugins": Array [
+        "navigation",
+      ],
+      "server": true,
+      "ui": true,
+      "version": "1.0.0",
+    }
+  `);
+});
diff --git a/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/tasks/write_server_files.ts b/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/tasks/write_server_files.ts
index c7ded09d2a03..56b0001fe96b 100644
--- a/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/tasks/write_server_files.ts
+++ b/packages/osd-plugin-helpers/src/tasks/write_server_files.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
 import { pipeline } from 'stream';
 import { promisify } from 'util';
 
-import semver from 'semver';
 import vfs from 'vinyl-fs';
 import { transformFileWithBabel, transformFileStream } from '@osd/dev-utils';
 
@@ -51,17 +50,12 @@ export async function writeServerFiles({
 }: BuildContext) {
   log.info('copying server source into the build and converting with babel');
 
-  const OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION_79 = semver.satisfies(opensearchDashboardsVersion, '~7.9.0');
-
   // copy source files and apply some babel transformations in the process
   await asyncPipeline(
     vfs.src(
       [
         'opensearch_dashboards.json',
-        // always copy over the package.json file if we're building for 7.9
-        ...(OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION_79 ? ['package.json'] : []),
-        // always copy over server files if we're building for 7.9, otherwise rely on `server: true` in opensearch_dashboards.json manifest
-        ...(OPENSEARCH_DASHBOARDS_VERSION_79 || plugin.manifest.server
+        ...(plugin.manifest.server
           ? config.serverSourcePatterns || [
               'yarn.lock',
               'tsconfig.json',
@@ -86,7 +80,7 @@ export async function writeServerFiles({
     ),
 
     // add opensearchDashboardsVersion to opensearch_dashboards.json files and opensearchDashboards.version to package.json files
-    // we don't check for `opensearchDashboards.version` in 7.10+ but the plugin helpers can still be used
+    // we don't check for `opensearchDashboards.version` in 1.0+ but the plugin helpers can still be used
     // to build plugins for older OpenSearch Dashboards versions so we do our best to support those needs by
     // setting the property if the package.json file is encountered
     transformFileStream((file) => {