diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/check.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/check.rs
index 3278b55305c8b..efdb6c993b5ac 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/check.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/check.rs
@@ -628,3 +628,9 @@ tool_check_step!(CoverageDump {
     mode: Mode::ToolBootstrap,
     default: false
 });
+
+tool_check_step!(Linkchecker {
+    path: "src/tools/linkchecker",
+    mode: Mode::ToolBootstrap,
+    default: false
+});
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/builder/mod.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/builder/mod.rs
index 1b75d00b30e4c..504a6890906f2 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/builder/mod.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/builder/mod.rs
@@ -1030,6 +1030,7 @@ impl<'a> Builder<'a> {
                 check::Compiletest,
                 check::FeaturesStatusDump,
                 check::CoverageDump,
+                check::Linkchecker,
                 // This has special staging logic, it may run on stage 1 while others run on stage 0.
                 // It takes quite some time to build stage 1, so put this at the end.
                 //
diff --git a/src/tools/linkchecker/Cargo.toml b/src/tools/linkchecker/Cargo.toml
index 7123d43eb564c..fb5bff3fe63ff 100644
--- a/src/tools/linkchecker/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/tools/linkchecker/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "linkchecker"
 version = "0.1.0"
-edition = "2021"
+edition = "2024"
 
 [[bin]]
 name = "linkchecker"
diff --git a/src/tools/linkchecker/main.rs b/src/tools/linkchecker/main.rs
index 84cba3f8c4473..7c2cee2e32e63 100644
--- a/src/tools/linkchecker/main.rs
+++ b/src/tools/linkchecker/main.rs
@@ -17,12 +17,14 @@
 //! should catch the majority of "broken link" cases.
 
 use std::cell::{Cell, RefCell};
+use std::collections::hash_map::Entry;
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
+use std::fs;
 use std::io::ErrorKind;
+use std::iter::once;
 use std::path::{Component, Path, PathBuf};
 use std::rc::Rc;
 use std::time::Instant;
-use std::{env, fs};
 
 use html5ever::tendril::ByteTendril;
 use html5ever::tokenizer::{
@@ -110,10 +112,25 @@ macro_rules! t {
     };
 }
 
+struct Cli {
+    docs: PathBuf,
+    link_targets_dirs: Vec<PathBuf>,
+}
+
 fn main() {
-    let docs = env::args_os().nth(1).expect("doc path should be first argument");
-    let docs = env::current_dir().unwrap().join(docs);
-    let mut checker = Checker { root: docs.clone(), cache: HashMap::new() };
+    let cli = match parse_cli() {
+        Ok(cli) => cli,
+        Err(err) => {
+            eprintln!("error: {err}");
+            usage_and_exit(1);
+        }
+    };
+
+    let mut checker = Checker {
+        root: cli.docs.clone(),
+        link_targets_dirs: cli.link_targets_dirs,
+        cache: HashMap::new(),
+    };
     let mut report = Report {
         errors: 0,
         start: Instant::now(),
@@ -125,7 +142,7 @@ fn main() {
         intra_doc_exceptions: 0,
         has_broken_urls: false,
     };
-    checker.walk(&docs, &mut report);
+    checker.walk(&cli.docs, &mut report);
     report.report();
     if report.errors != 0 {
         println!("found some broken links");
@@ -133,8 +150,50 @@ fn main() {
     }
 }
 
+fn parse_cli() -> Result<Cli, String> {
+    fn to_canonical_path(arg: &str) -> Result<PathBuf, String> {
+        PathBuf::from(arg).canonicalize().map_err(|e| format!("could not canonicalize {arg}: {e}"))
+    }
+
+    let mut verbatim = false;
+    let mut docs = None;
+    let mut link_targets_dirs = Vec::new();
+
+    let mut args = std::env::args().skip(1);
+    while let Some(arg) = args.next() {
+        if !verbatim && arg == "--" {
+            verbatim = true;
+        } else if !verbatim && (arg == "-h" || arg == "--help") {
+            usage_and_exit(0)
+        } else if !verbatim && arg == "--link-targets-dir" {
+            link_targets_dirs.push(to_canonical_path(
+                &args.next().ok_or("missing value for --link-targets-dir")?,
+            )?);
+        } else if !verbatim && let Some(value) = arg.strip_prefix("--link-targets-dir=") {
+            link_targets_dirs.push(to_canonical_path(value)?);
+        } else if !verbatim && arg.starts_with('-') {
+            return Err(format!("unknown flag: {arg}"));
+        } else if docs.is_none() {
+            docs = Some(arg);
+        } else {
+            return Err("too many positional arguments".into());
+        }
+    }
+
+    Ok(Cli {
+        docs: to_canonical_path(&docs.ok_or("missing first positional argument")?)?,
+        link_targets_dirs,
+    })
+}
+
+fn usage_and_exit(code: i32) -> ! {
+    eprintln!("usage: linkchecker PATH [--link-targets-dir=PATH ...]");
+    std::process::exit(code)
+}
+
 struct Checker {
     root: PathBuf,
+    link_targets_dirs: Vec<PathBuf>,
     cache: Cache,
 }
 
@@ -427,15 +486,23 @@ impl Checker {
         let pretty_path =
             file.strip_prefix(&self.root).unwrap_or(file).to_str().unwrap().to_string();
 
-        let entry =
-            self.cache.entry(pretty_path.clone()).or_insert_with(|| match fs::metadata(file) {
+        for base in once(&self.root).chain(self.link_targets_dirs.iter()) {
+            let entry = self.cache.entry(pretty_path.clone());
+            if let Entry::Occupied(e) = &entry
+                && !matches!(e.get(), FileEntry::Missing)
+            {
+                break;
+            }
+
+            let file = base.join(&pretty_path);
+            entry.insert_entry(match fs::metadata(&file) {
                 Ok(metadata) if metadata.is_dir() => FileEntry::Dir,
                 Ok(_) => {
                     if file.extension().and_then(|s| s.to_str()) != Some("html") {
                         FileEntry::OtherFile
                     } else {
                         report.html_files += 1;
-                        load_html_file(file, report)
+                        load_html_file(&file, report)
                     }
                 }
                 Err(e) if e.kind() == ErrorKind::NotFound => FileEntry::Missing,
@@ -451,6 +518,9 @@ impl Checker {
                     panic!("unexpected read error for {}: {}", file.display(), e);
                 }
             });
+        }
+
+        let entry = self.cache.get(&pretty_path).unwrap();
         (pretty_path, entry)
     }
 }