diff --git a/docs/HACKING.md b/docs/HACKING.md
index 85adca5974..25ad0aa17e 100644
--- a/docs/HACKING.md
+++ b/docs/HACKING.md
@@ -309,14 +309,25 @@ To debug systemd-boot in an IDE such as VSCode we can use a launch configuration
 
 [clangd](https://clangd.llvm.org/) is a language server that provides code completion, diagnostics and more
 right in your editor of choice (with the right plugin installed). When using mkosi, we can run clangd in the
-mkosi build container to avoid needing to build systemd on the host machine just to make clangd work.
+mkosi tools tree to avoid needing to install clangd on the host machine.
 
-All that is required is to run `mkosi` once to make sure cached images are available and to modify the path of the
-clangd binary used by your editor to the `mkosi.clangd` script included in the systemd repository. For example, for
-VScode, you'd have to add the following to the VSCode workspace settings of the systemd repository:
+All that is required is to run `mkosi -f sandbox true` once to make sure the tools tree is available and to modify
+the path of the clangd binary used by your editor to the `mkosi.clangd` script included in the systemd repository.
+For example, for VScode, you'd have to add the following to the VSCode workspace settings of the systemd repository:
 
 ```json
 {
     "clangd.path": "<path-to-systemd-repository>/mkosi/mkosi.clangd",
 }
 ```
+
+The script passes any arguments it receives directly to clangd which you can use
+for example to tell clangd where the compilation database can be found using the
+`--compile-commands-dir=` option.
+
+When using clangd, it's recommended to setup the build directory containing the
+compilation database used by clangd to use clang as the compiler as well:
+
+```sh
+$ mkosi sandbox -- env CC=clang CXX=clang++ meson setup build
+```
diff --git a/mkosi/mkosi.clangd b/mkosi/mkosi.clangd
index 44c1128a91..f2e741f0fa 100755
--- a/mkosi/mkosi.clangd
+++ b/mkosi/mkosi.clangd
@@ -8,17 +8,10 @@ else
     SPAWN=()
 fi
 
-MKOSI_CONFIG="$("${SPAWN[@]}" mkosi --json summary | jq -r .Images[-1])"
-BUILDDIR="$(jq -r .BuildDirectory <<< "$MKOSI_CONFIG")"
-BUILDSUBDIR="$(jq -r .BuildSubdirectory <<< "$MKOSI_CONFIG")"
-
-exec "${SPAWN[@]}" mkosi \
-    --rerun-build-scripts \
-    build \
-    -- \
-    clangd \
-    --compile-commands-dir=/work/build \
-    --path-mappings="\
-$(pwd)=/work/src,\
-$BUILDDIR/$BUILDSUBDIR=/work/build"\
-    "$@"
+exec "${SPAWN[@]}" \
+    mkosi sandbox -- \
+        clangd \
+            --compile-commands-dir=build \
+            --path-mappings="\
+$(pwd)/mkosi.tools/usr/include=/usr/include" \
+            "$@"
diff --git a/mkosi/mkosi.images/build/mkosi.build.chroot b/mkosi/mkosi.images/build/mkosi.build.chroot
deleted file mode 100755
index 4a3c977a78..0000000000
--- a/mkosi/mkosi.images/build/mkosi.build.chroot
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
-set -e
-
-if [[ "$1" == "clangd" ]]; then
-    exec "$@"
-fi