diff --git a/bundles/com.salesforce.bazel.eclipse.core/src/com/salesforce/bazel/eclipse/core/model/discovery/JavaAspectsClasspathInfo.java b/bundles/com.salesforce.bazel.eclipse.core/src/com/salesforce/bazel/eclipse/core/model/discovery/JavaAspectsClasspathInfo.java
index 3f403179..0c7ef776 100644
--- a/bundles/com.salesforce.bazel.eclipse.core/src/com/salesforce/bazel/eclipse/core/model/discovery/JavaAspectsClasspathInfo.java
+++ b/bundles/com.salesforce.bazel.eclipse.core/src/com/salesforce/bazel/eclipse/core/model/discovery/JavaAspectsClasspathInfo.java
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ private ClasspathEntry resolveLibrary(BlazeJarLibrary library) throws CoreExcept
         return resolveJar(library.libraryArtifact);
     }
 
-    public ClasspathEntry resolveProject(final Label targetLabel) throws CoreException {
+    private ClasspathEntry resolveProject(final Label targetLabel) throws CoreException {
         var workspace = bazelWorkspace;
 
         // check for project mapping (it trumps everything)
@@ -662,6 +662,14 @@ public ClasspathEntry resolveProject(final Label targetLabel) throws CoreExcepti
                     .anyMatch(t -> t.getTargetName().equals(targetName))) {
                 return newProjectReference(targetLabel, bazelPackage.getBazelProject());
             }
+
+            // it may be possible that the target is explicitly hidden from IDEs
+            // in this case, it won't match in the above condition, however, we still want to make it a project references
+            // the reason is that we do expect the project to represent the package adequately
+            // design question: this assumes project per package strategy, which is actually the case here
+            if (!bazelTarget.isVisibleToIde()) {
+                return newProjectReference(targetLabel, bazelPackage.getBazelProject());
+            }
         }
 
         // nothing found