diff --git a/pkg/urbit/.gitignore b/pkg/urbit/.gitignore
index f78b9fecdf..3a9050b38d 100644
--- a/pkg/urbit/.gitignore
+++ b/pkg/urbit/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,8 @@
 /include/config.h
 /include/ca-bundle.h
 /include/ivory.h
+
+# indexing
+/.cache/
+compile_commands.json
+tags
diff --git a/pkg/urbit/Makefile b/pkg/urbit/Makefile
index 46b90249e5..e6c4fe5bc6 100644
--- a/pkg/urbit/Makefile
+++ b/pkg/urbit/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 include config.mk
-include $(foreach dir,$(compat),$(wildcard compat/$(dir)/*.mk))
+compat_mks := $(foreach dir,$(compat),$(wildcard compat/$(dir)/*.mk))
+include $(compat_mks)
 
 jets = jets/tree.c $(wildcard jets/*/*.c)
 noun = $(wildcard noun/*.c)
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ clean:
 	rm -f ./tags $(all_objs) $(all_exes)
 
 mrproper: clean
-	rm -f config.mk include/config.h
+	rm -f config.mk include/config.h compile_commands.json
 
 ################################################################################
 
@@ -80,3 +81,15 @@ build/urbit: $(common_objs) $(daemon_objs) $(worker_objs)
 
 tags: $(all_srcs) $(headers)
 	ctags $^
+
+compile_commands.json: Makefile config.mk $(compat_mks)
+	@echo "[" > $@ && sep= && \
+	for src in $(all_srcs); do \
+		echo "$$sep{" >> $@; \
+		printf '"directory": "%s",\n' $$(pwd) >> $@; \
+		printf '"command": "%s",\n' "$(CC) -I./include $(CFLAGS) $$src $(CCEXTRA) -c" >> $@; \
+		printf '"file": "%s",\n' $$src >> $@; \
+		echo "}" >> $@; \
+		sep=','; \
+	done && \
+	echo "]" >> $@