diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 7a7635eaf2..29b93feed6 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ add_custom_target(make_stdlib ALL
   # The actual rule is in a separate makefile because we want to prefix it with '+' to use the Make job server
   # for a parallelized nested build, but CMake doesn't let us do that.
   # We use `lean` from the previous stage, but `leanc`, headers, etc. from the current stage
-  COMMAND $(MAKE) -f ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/stdlib.make Init Std Lean
+  COMMAND $(MAKE) -f ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/stdlib.make Init Std Lean Leanc
   VERBATIM)
 
 # if we have LLVM enabled, then build `lean.h.bc` which has the LLVM bitcode
@@ -768,7 +768,7 @@ if(${STAGE} GREATER 0 AND EXISTS ${LEAN_SOURCE_DIR}/Leanc.lean AND NOT ${CMAKE_S
   add_custom_target(leanc ALL
     WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/leanc
     DEPENDS leanshared
-    COMMAND $(MAKE) -f ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/stdlib.make Leanc
+    COMMAND $(MAKE) -f ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/stdlib.make leanc
     VERBATIM)
 endif()
 
@@ -823,7 +823,6 @@ endif()
 
 # Escape for `make`. Yes, twice.
 string(REPLACE "$" "\\\$$" CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_MAKE "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS}")
-string(REPLACE "$" "$$" CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_MAKE_MAKE "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_MAKE}")
 configure_file(${LEAN_SOURCE_DIR}/stdlib.make.in ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/stdlib.make)
 
 # hacky
diff --git a/src/lakefile.toml.in b/src/lakefile.toml.in
index 29205134eb..640b5ccbee 100644
--- a/src/lakefile.toml.in
+++ b/src/lakefile.toml.in
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 name = "lean4"
 bootstrap = true
 
-defaultTargets = ["Init", "Std", "Lean", "Lake", "LakeMain"]
+defaultTargets = ["Init", "Std", "Lean", "Lake", "LakeMain", "Leanc"]
 
 # The root of all the compiler output directories
 buildDir = "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}"
@@ -65,3 +65,9 @@ name = "LakeMain"
 srcDir = "lake"
 libName = "${LAKE_LIB_PREFIX}LakeMain"
 defaultFacets = ["static.export"]
+
+[[lean_lib]]
+name = "Leanc"
+srcDir = "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/leanc"
+libName = "${LAKE_LIB_PREFIX}Leanc"
+defaultFacets = ["static"]
diff --git a/src/stdlib.make.in b/src/stdlib.make.in
index f3a5086e3b..c015fdf97b 100644
--- a/src/stdlib.make.in
+++ b/src/stdlib.make.in
@@ -41,9 +41,9 @@ ifeq "${USE_LAKE} ${STAGE}" "ON 1"
 
 # build in parallel
 Init:
-	${PREV_STAGE}/bin/lake build Init Std Lean Lake LakeMain $(LAKE_EXTRA_ARGS)
+	${PREV_STAGE}/bin/lake build $(LAKE_EXTRA_ARGS)
 
-Std Lean Lake: Init
+Std Lean Lake Leanc: Init
 
 else
 
@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ Std: Init
 Lean: Std
 	+"${LEAN_BIN}/leanmake" lib lib.export PKG=Lean $(LEANMAKE_OPTS)
 
+Leanc: Lean
+ifneq "${STAGE}" "0"
+	+"${LEAN_BIN}/leanmake" -C "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/leanc" lib PKG=Leanc $(LEANMAKE_OPTS) OUT="${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}" LIB_OUT="${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}"
+endif
+
 Lake:
 # lake is in its own subdirectory, so must adjust relative paths...
 	+"${LEAN_BIN}/leanmake" -C lake lib lib.export ../${LIB}/temp/LakeMain.o.export  PKG=Lake $(LEANMAKE_OPTS) OUT="../${LIB}" LIB_OUT="../${LIB}/lean" TEMP_OUT="../${LIB}/temp" OLEAN_OUT="../${LIB}/lean" EXTRA_SRC_ROOTS=LakeMain.lean
@@ -146,5 +151,10 @@ ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/lean${CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX}: ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_D
 
 lean: ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/lean${CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX}
 
-Leanc:
-	+"${LEAN_BIN}/leanmake" bin PKG=Leanc BIN_NAME=leanc${CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX} $(LEANMAKE_OPTS) LINK_OPTS='${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_MAKE_MAKE}' OUT="${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}" OLEAN_OUT="${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}" LEAN_PATH="${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}"
+${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/leanc${CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX}: ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/libLeanc.a
+	@echo "[    ] Building $@"
+# on Windows, must remove file before writing a new one (since the old one may be in use)
+	@rm -f $@
+	"${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/leanc.sh" $< ${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_MAKE} ${LEAN_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} ${LEANC_OPTS} -o $@
+
+leanc: ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/leanc${CMAKE_EXECUTABLE_SUFFIX}