diff --git a/lib/compiler/build_runner.zig b/lib/compiler/build_runner.zig
index 690c93754553..c18b1e19b693 100644
--- a/lib/compiler/build_runner.zig
+++ b/lib/compiler/build_runner.zig
@@ -112,6 +112,10 @@ pub fn main() !void {
     var watch = false;
     var fuzz = false;
     var debounce_interval_ms: u16 = 50;
+    var build_file: std.Build.Cache.Path = .{
+        .root_dir = build_root_directory,
+        .sub_path = "build.zig",
+    };
     var listen_port: u16 = 0;
 
     while (nextArg(args, &arg_idx)) |arg| {
@@ -134,6 +138,8 @@ pub fn main() !void {
         } else if (mem.startsWith(u8, arg, "-")) {
             if (mem.eql(u8, arg, "--verbose")) {
                 builder.verbose = true;
+            } else if (mem.eql(u8, arg, "--build-file")) {
+                build_file.sub_path = nextArgOrFatal(args, &arg_idx);
             } else if (mem.eql(u8, arg, "-h") or mem.eql(u8, arg, "--help")) {
                 help_menu = true;
             } else if (mem.eql(u8, arg, "-p") or mem.eql(u8, arg, "--prefix")) {
@@ -398,7 +404,7 @@ pub fn main() !void {
         else => return err,
     };
 
-    var w = if (watch) try Watch.init() else undefined;
+    var w = if (watch) try Watch.init(build_file) else undefined;
 
     try run.thread_pool.init(thread_pool_options);
     defer run.thread_pool.deinit();
@@ -472,6 +478,9 @@ pub fn main() !void {
                 debouncing_node.end();
                 debouncing_node = main_progress_node.start("Debouncing (Change Detected)", 0);
             },
+            .build_file_changed => {
+                return rerunExit();
+            },
             .clean => {},
         };
     }
@@ -1387,6 +1396,11 @@ fn cleanExit() void {
     process.exit(0);
 }
 
+fn rerunExit() void {
+    std.debug.lockStdErr();
+    process.exit(4);
+}
+
 /// Perhaps in the future there could be an Advanced Options flag such as
 /// --debug-build-runner-leaks which would make this function return instead of
 /// calling exit.
diff --git a/lib/std/Build/Watch.zig b/lib/std/Build/Watch.zig
index efcf055fdb37..3d865bc551e2 100644
--- a/lib/std/Build/Watch.zig
+++ b/lib/std/Build/Watch.zig
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const assert = std.debug.assert;
 const fatal = std.zig.fatal;
 
 dir_table: DirTable,
+build_file: Cache.Path,
 os: Os,
 generation: Generation,
 
@@ -31,6 +32,8 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
 
         /// Keyed differently but indexes correspond 1:1 with `dir_table`.
         handle_table: HandleTable,
+        /// Initialized lazily.
+        build_file_handle: ?FileHandle = null,
         poll_fds: [1]posix.pollfd,
 
         const HandleTable = std.ArrayHashMapUnmanaged(FileHandle, ReactionSet, FileHandle.Adapter, false);
@@ -103,7 +106,7 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
             return stack_lfh.clone(gpa);
         }
 
-        fn markDirtySteps(w: *Watch, gpa: Allocator) !bool {
+        fn markDirtySteps(w: *Watch, gpa: Allocator) !WaitResult {
             const fan_fd = w.os.getFanFd();
             const fanotify = std.os.linux.fanotify;
             const M = fanotify.event_metadata;
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
             var any_dirty = false;
             while (true) {
                 var len = posix.read(fan_fd, &events_buf) catch |err| switch (err) {
-                    error.WouldBlock => return any_dirty,
+                    error.WouldBlock => return if (any_dirty) .dirty else .timeout,
                     else => |e| return e,
                 };
                 var meta: [*]align(1) M = @ptrCast(&events_buf);
@@ -124,7 +127,7 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
                         any_dirty = true;
                         std.log.warn("file system watch queue overflowed; falling back to fstat", .{});
                         markAllFilesDirty(w, gpa);
-                        return true;
+                        return .dirty;
                     }
                     const fid: *align(1) fanotify.event_info_fid = @ptrCast(meta + 1);
                     switch (fid.hdr.info_type) {
@@ -139,6 +142,12 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
                                 if (reaction_set.getPtr(file_name)) |step_set|
                                     any_dirty = markStepSetDirty(gpa, step_set, any_dirty);
                             }
+
+                            if (FileHandle.Adapter.eql(undefined, lfh, w.os.build_file_handle.?, undefined) and
+                                std.mem.eql(u8, file_name, w.build_file.sub_path))
+                            {
+                                return .build_file_changed;
+                            }
                         },
                         else => |t| std.log.warn("unexpected fanotify event '{s}'", .{@tagName(t)}),
                     }
@@ -152,6 +161,20 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
 
         fn update(w: *Watch, gpa: Allocator, steps: []const *Step) !void {
             const fan_fd = w.os.getFanFd();
+
+            if (w.os.build_file_handle == null) {
+                w.os.build_file_handle = try Os.getDirHandle(gpa, .{
+                    .root_dir = w.build_file.root_dir,
+                    .sub_path = "",
+                });
+                posix.fanotify_mark(fan_fd, .{
+                    .ADD = true,
+                    .ONLYDIR = true,
+                }, fan_mask, w.build_file.root_dir.handle.fd, ".") catch |err| {
+                    fatal("unable to watch build file at {}: {s}", .{ w.build_file, @errorName(err) });
+                };
+            }
+
             // Add missing marks and note persisted ones.
             for (steps) |step| {
                 for (step.inputs.table.keys(), step.inputs.table.values()) |path, *files| {
@@ -507,7 +530,7 @@ const Os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
     else => void,
 };
 
-pub fn init() !Watch {
+pub fn init(build_file: Cache.Path) !Watch {
     switch (builtin.os.tag) {
         .linux => {
             const fan_fd = try std.posix.fanotify_init(.{
@@ -521,6 +544,7 @@ pub fn init() !Watch {
             }, 0);
             return .{
                 .dir_table = .{},
+                .build_file = build_file,
                 .os = switch (builtin.os.tag) {
                     .linux => .{
                         .handle_table = .{},
@@ -623,6 +647,7 @@ pub const WaitResult = enum {
     /// File system watching triggered on files that were marked as inputs to at least one Step.
     /// Relevant steps have been marked dirty.
     dirty,
+    build_file_changed,
     /// File system watching triggered but none of the events were relevant to
     /// what we are listening to. There is nothing to do.
     clean,
@@ -634,10 +659,8 @@ pub fn wait(w: *Watch, gpa: Allocator, timeout: Timeout) !WaitResult {
             const events_len = try std.posix.poll(&w.os.poll_fds, timeout.to_i32_ms());
             return if (events_len == 0)
                 .timeout
-            else if (try Os.markDirtySteps(w, gpa))
-                .dirty
             else
-                .clean;
+                try Os.markDirtySteps(w, gpa);
         },
         .windows => {
             var bytes_transferred: std.os.windows.DWORD = undefined;
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 4213d316be65..95a809b58bed 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -4817,6 +4817,7 @@ fn cmdBuild(gpa: Allocator, arena: Allocator, args: []const []const u8) !void {
             if (mem.startsWith(u8, arg, "-")) {
                 if (mem.eql(u8, arg, "--build-file")) {
                     if (i + 1 >= args.len) fatal("expected argument after '{s}'", .{arg});
+                    try child_argv.appendSlice(args[i .. i + 2]);
                     i += 1;
                     build_file = args[i];
                     continue;
@@ -5046,6 +5047,7 @@ fn cmdBuild(gpa: Allocator, arena: Allocator, args: []const []const u8) !void {
 
     // This loop is re-evaluated when the build script exits with an indication that it
     // could not continue due to missing lazy dependencies.
+    // PROGRESS: or the buildscript changed
     while (true) {
         // We want to release all the locks before executing the child process, so we make a nice
         // big block here to ensure the cleanup gets run when we extract out our argv.
@@ -5373,6 +5375,9 @@ fn cmdBuild(gpa: Allocator, arena: Allocator, args: []const []const u8) !void {
                         continue;
                     }
 
+                    // buildscript changed
+                    if (code == 4) continue;
+
                     const cmd = try std.mem.join(arena, " ", child_argv.items);
                     fatal("the following build command failed with exit code {d}:\n{s}", .{ code, cmd });
                 },