diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 1b35ec5a90..249e974201 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ else()
     list(APPEND DAWN_FLAGS "$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:-std=c++14>")
     # enable -Wold-style-cast on C++
     list(APPEND DAWN_FLAGS "$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:-Wold-style-cast>")
+
+    list(APPEND DAWN_FLAGS "-fvisibility=hidden" "$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:-fno-rtti>" "-fno-exceptions")
     list(APPEND DAWN_FLAGS "-fPIC")
 
     list(APPEND DAWN_INTERNAL_FLAGS "-Wall" "-Wextra")
diff --git a/examples/glTFViewer/glTFViewer.cpp b/examples/glTFViewer/glTFViewer.cpp
index 6347fb2ea0..fce4f4fdef 100644
--- a/examples/glTFViewer/glTFViewer.cpp
+++ b/examples/glTFViewer/glTFViewer.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 #include "SampleUtils.h"
 
+#include "common/Assert.h"
 #include "common/Math.h"
 #include "common/Constants.h"
 #include "utils/DawnHelpers.h"
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@
 
 #define TINYGLTF_LOADER_IMPLEMENTATION
 #define STB_IMAGE_IMPLEMENTATION
+#define PICOJSON_ASSERT ASSERT
 #include <tinygltfloader/tiny_gltf_loader.h>
 
 #include "GLFW/glfw3.h"
diff --git a/src/dawn_native/CMakeLists.txt b/src/dawn_native/CMakeLists.txt
index 9ef242b4aa..1137eeac53 100644
--- a/src/dawn_native/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/dawn_native/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ list(APPEND DAWN_NATIVE_SOURCES
 # this, so instead we duplicate the deps everywhere.
 add_library(libdawn_native_objects OBJECT ${DAWN_NATIVE_SOURCES})
 DawnInternalTarget("dawn_native" libdawn_native_objects)
-target_compile_definitions(libdawn_native_objects PRIVATE DAWN_NATIVE_IMPLEMENTATION)
+target_compile_definitions(libdawn_native_objects PRIVATE DAWN_NATIVE_IMPLEMENTATION SPIRV_CROSS_EXCEPTIONS_TO_ASSERTIONS)
 target_include_directories(libdawn_native_objects PRIVATE ${DAWN_NATIVE_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 add_dependencies(libdawn_native_objects dawn_native_utils_autogen)
 
diff --git a/third_party/CMakeLists.txt b/third_party/CMakeLists.txt
index 31cf434286..4d70444c25 100644
--- a/third_party/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/third_party/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ if (DAWN_ENABLE_OPENGL OR NEED_SPIRV_CROSS_GLSL)
 endif()
 
 add_library(spirv_cross STATIC ${SPIRV_CROSS_SOURCES})
+target_compile_definitions(spirv_cross PUBLIC SPIRV_CROSS_EXCEPTIONS_TO_ASSERTIONS)
 set(SPIRV_CROSS_INCLUDE_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PARENT_SCOPE)
 DawnExternalTarget("third_party" spirv_cross)
 
diff --git a/third_party/picojson/picojson.h b/third_party/picojson/picojson.h
index 045dc537ba..218049764c 100644
--- a/third_party/picojson/picojson.h
+++ b/third_party/picojson/picojson.h
@@ -216,7 +216,8 @@ namespace picojson {
         isnan(n) || isinf(n)
 #endif
         ) {
-      throw std::overflow_error("");
+      // throw std::overflow_error("");
+      PICOJSON_ASSERT(false);
     }
     u_.number_ = n;
   }