diff --git a/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/Build.hs b/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/Build.hs
index 7f8b9f0f069..4c7dcbf681f 100644
--- a/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/Build.hs
+++ b/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/Build.hs
@@ -1168,7 +1168,7 @@ runPreBuildHooks
   pbcRules = do
     let verbosity = mkVerbosity verbHandles $ buildingWhatVerbosity what
     (rules, mons) <- SetupHooks.computeRules verbosity pbci pbcRules
-    SetupHooks.executeRules verbosity lbi tgt rules
+    SetupHooks.executeRules verbosity lbi tgt mons rules
     return mons
 
 -- | Built-in pre-build 'SetupHooks' for a given 'BuildType'.
diff --git a/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/BuildPaths.hs b/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/BuildPaths.hs
index 54472859339..989c077453d 100644
--- a/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/BuildPaths.hs
+++ b/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/BuildPaths.hs
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ module Distribution.Simple.BuildPaths
   , autogenPackageModulesDir
   , autogenComponentModulesDir
   , preBuildRulesCacheFile
+  , preBuildMonitorManifestFile
   , autogenPathsModuleName
   , autogenPackageInfoModuleName
   , cppHeaderName
@@ -170,6 +171,18 @@ preBuildRulesCacheFile
 preBuildRulesCacheFile lbi clbi =
   componentBuildDir lbi clbi </> makeRelativePathEx "setup-hooks-rules.cache"
 
+-- | The path to the pre-build monitor manifest file for a component.
+--
+-- This file is written after running pre-build rules, so that external
+-- tools (e.g. HLS) can discover which files to watch for changes and which
+-- files were generated by the rules. See 'writePreBuildMonitorManifest'.
+preBuildMonitorManifestFile
+  :: LocalBuildInfo
+  -> ComponentLocalBuildInfo
+  -> SymbolicPath Pkg File
+preBuildMonitorManifestFile lbi clbi =
+  componentBuildDir lbi clbi </> makeRelativePathEx "pre-build-monitors"
+
 -- NB: Look at 'checkForeignDeps' for where a simplified version of this
 -- has been copy-pasted.
 
diff --git a/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/SetupHooks/Internal.hs b/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/SetupHooks/Internal.hs
index 3d767f6fdb8..b2446db85fc 100644
--- a/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/SetupHooks/Internal.hs
+++ b/Cabal/src/Distribution/Simple/SetupHooks/Internal.hs
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ module Distribution.Simple.SetupHooks.Internal
     -- ** Executing build rules
   , executeRules
   , executeRulesUserOrSystem
+  , writePreBuildMonitorManifest
 
     -- ** HookedBuildInfo compatibility code
   , hookedBuildInfoComponents
@@ -94,6 +95,7 @@ import Prelude ()
 
 import Distribution.Compat.Lens ((.~))
 import Distribution.PackageDescription
+import Distribution.Pretty (prettyShow)
 import Distribution.Simple.BuildPaths
 import Distribution.Simple.Compiler (Compiler (..))
 import Distribution.Simple.Errors
@@ -135,7 +137,13 @@ import qualified Data.Map as Map
 import Data.Monoid (Ap (..))
 import qualified Data.Set as Set
 
-import System.Directory (doesFileExist, getModificationTime)
+import System.Directory
+  ( createDirectoryIfMissing
+  , doesFileExist
+  , getModificationTime
+  , makeAbsolute
+  )
+import System.FilePath (takeDirectory)
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 -- SetupHooks
@@ -850,6 +858,8 @@ executeRules
   :: Verbosity
   -> LocalBuildInfo
   -> TargetInfo
+  -> [MonitorFilePath]
+  -- ^ files monitored by the pre-build rules
   -> Map RuleId Rule
   -> IO ()
 executeRules =
@@ -872,9 +882,11 @@ executeRulesUserOrSystem
   -> Verbosity
   -> LocalBuildInfo
   -> TargetInfo
+  -> [MonitorFilePath]
+  -- ^ files monitored by the pre-build rules
   -> Map RuleId (RuleData userOrSystem)
   -> IO ()
-executeRulesUserOrSystem scope runDepsCmdData runCmdData verbosity lbi tgtInfo allRules = do
+executeRulesUserOrSystem scope runDepsCmdData runCmdData verbosity lbi tgtInfo monitors allRules = do
   -- Load the rule cache from the previous build.
   -- Used to detect when rule definitions have changed.
   oldRules <- handleDoesNotExist Map.empty $ do
@@ -995,6 +1007,19 @@ executeRulesUserOrSystem scope runDepsCmdData runCmdData verbosity lbi tgtInfo a
                     errorOut $ MissingRuleOutputs (toRuleBinary r) missingResults
       -- Save the current rules to the cache for use in the next build.
       structuredEncodeFile rulesCacheFile allRules
+      -- Write the monitor manifest for external tools (e.g. HLS).
+      let allFileDeps =
+            [ loc
+            | (rId, Rule{staticDependencies}) <- Map.toList allRules
+            , let dynDeps = maybe [] fst (Map.lookup rId dynDepsEdges)
+            , FileDependency loc <- staticDependencies ++ dynDeps
+            ]
+          allOutputs =
+            [ loc
+            | Rule{results} <- Map.elems allRules
+            , loc <- NE.toList results
+            ]
+      writePreBuildMonitorManifest lbi tgtInfo monitors allFileDeps allOutputs
   where
     toRuleBinary :: RuleData userOrSystem -> RuleBinary
     toRuleBinary = case scope of
@@ -1009,6 +1034,65 @@ executeRulesUserOrSystem scope runDepsCmdData runCmdData verbosity lbi tgtInfo a
         SetupHooksException $
           RulesException e
 
+-- | Write the pre-build monitor manifest for a component.
+--
+-- This plain-text file (stored at 'preBuildMonitorManifestFile') is intended
+-- for external tools such as HLS that invoke @cabal build@ but do not link
+-- against the Cabal library. It records enough information for such tools
+-- to detect when pre-build rules need to be re-computed or re-run, as per
+-- the 'SetupHooks' documentation in @Cabal-hooks@.
+--
+-- The manifest contains three sections:
+--
+--   * @[monitors]@: values monitored by the computation of pre-build rules.
+--   * @[inputs]@: file dependencies of pre-build rules (static & dynamic).
+--   * @[outputs]@: file outputs of pre-build rules.
+--
+-- All relative paths in the manifest are relative to the @pkg-root@ listed in
+-- the file header.
+writePreBuildMonitorManifest
+  :: LocalBuildInfo
+  -> TargetInfo
+  -> [MonitorFilePath]
+  -- ^ recompute pre-build rules when these change
+  -> [Location]
+  -- ^ combined static and dynamic file dependencies of pre-build rules
+  -> [Location]
+  -- ^ outputs (files generated by the pre-build rules)
+  -> IO ()
+writePreBuildMonitorManifest lbi tgtInfo monitors fileDeps outputs = do
+  pkgRoot <- makeAbsolute (maybe "." getSymbolicPath (mbWorkDirLBI lbi))
+  let clbi = targetCLBI tgtInfo
+      manifestPath = interpretSymbolicPathLBI lbi (preBuildMonitorManifestFile lbi clbi)
+      content =
+        unlines $
+          concat
+            [
+              [ "pre-build-monitors-v1"
+              , "pkg-root:" ++ pkgRoot
+              ]
+            , ["", "[monitors]"]
+            , map serialiseMonitor monitors
+            , ["", "[inputs]"]
+            , map (getSymbolicPath . location) fileDeps
+            , ["", "[outputs]"]
+            , map (getSymbolicPath . location) outputs
+            ]
+  createDirectoryIfMissing True (takeDirectory manifestPath)
+  writeFile manifestPath content
+  where
+    serialiseMonitor (MonitorFile kf kd path) =
+      "file:" ++ showKindFile kf ++ ":" ++ showKindDir kd ++ ":" ++ path
+    serialiseMonitor (MonitorFileGlob kf kd glob) =
+      "glob:" ++ showKindFile kf ++ ":" ++ showKindDir kd ++ ":" ++ prettyShow glob
+    showKindFile FileExists = "exists"
+    showKindFile FileModTime = "modtime"
+    showKindFile FileHashed = "hashed"
+    showKindFile FileNotExists = "notexists"
+    showKindDir DirExists = "exists"
+    showKindDir DirModTime = "modtime"
+    showKindDir DirNotExists = "notexists"
+
 directRuleDependencyMaybe :: Rule.Dependency -> Maybe RuleId
 directRuleDependencyMaybe (RuleDependency dep) = Just $ outputOfRule dep
 directRuleDependencyMaybe (FileDependency{}) = Nothing
diff --git a/changelog.d/rules-manifest.md b/changelog.d/rules-manifest.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6392fc0bb04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/rules-manifest.md
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+synopsis: Write pre-build rules manifest file
+packages: [Cabal, cabal-install]
+prs: 11776
+issues:
+---
+
+After executing pre-build rules for a component, `Cabal` now writes a manifest
+file to the `pre-build-monitors` file in the component's build directory.
+
+This manifest contains:
+
+  1. The files that are monitored by the pre-build rules computation. When any
+     of these change, we need to re-run the computation of pre-build rules.
+  2. File dependencies of the pre-build rules. When any of these change, we
+     need to re-run rules (the recompilation checking logic will take care to
+     only re-run stale rules).
+  3. Rule outputs, i.e. files generated by the pre-build rules.
+
+Writing this information to a file makes it available to external tools such as
+HLS without needing to link against the Cabal library. This allows external
+tools to know when to re-run the pre-build rules.
diff --git a/hooks-exe/cli/Distribution/Client/SetupHooks/CallHooksExe.hs b/hooks-exe/cli/Distribution/Client/SetupHooks/CallHooksExe.hs
index 6ef2313496c..a85150d7d0e 100644
--- a/hooks-exe/cli/Distribution/Client/SetupHooks/CallHooksExe.hs
+++ b/hooks-exe/cli/Distribution/Client/SetupHooks/CallHooksExe.hs
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ runExternalPreBuildRules verbHandles hooksExe
       DynamicRuleCommands {} -> hook "runPreBuildRuleDeps" (rId, cmd)
     )
     ( \ rId cmd -> hook "runPreBuildRule" (rId, cmd) )
-    verbosity lbi tgt rulesMap
+    verbosity lbi tgt monitors rulesMap
   return monitors
 
 -- | The path to the external hooks executable.