diff --git a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs
index 706e1742dffd..92df4d70fd90 100644
--- a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs
+++ b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ pub(crate) struct GlobalStateSnapshot {
     pub(crate) semantic_tokens_cache: Arc<Mutex<FxHashMap<Url, SemanticTokens>>>,
     vfs: Arc<RwLock<(vfs::Vfs, NoHashHashMap<FileId, LineEndings>)>>,
     pub(crate) workspaces: Arc<Vec<ProjectWorkspace>>,
+    pub(crate) proc_macros_loaded: bool,
 }
 
 impl std::panic::UnwindSafe for GlobalStateSnapshot {}
@@ -256,6 +257,7 @@ impl GlobalState {
             check_fixes: Arc::clone(&self.diagnostics.check_fixes),
             mem_docs: self.mem_docs.clone(),
             semantic_tokens_cache: Arc::clone(&self.semantic_tokens_cache),
+            proc_macros_loaded: !self.fetch_build_data_queue.last_op_result().0.is_empty(),
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/handlers.rs b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/handlers.rs
index d89f0f5a3cf4..d9b669afbe81 100644
--- a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/handlers.rs
+++ b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/handlers.rs
@@ -1504,7 +1504,11 @@ pub(crate) fn handle_semantic_tokens_full(
     let text = snap.analysis.file_text(file_id)?;
     let line_index = snap.file_line_index(file_id)?;
 
-    let highlights = snap.analysis.highlight(snap.config.highlighting_config(), file_id)?;
+    let mut highlight_config = snap.config.highlighting_config();
+    // Avoid flashing a bunch of unresolved references when the proc-macro servers haven't been spawned yet.
+    highlight_config.syntactic_name_ref_highlighting = !snap.proc_macros_loaded;
+
+    let highlights = snap.analysis.highlight(highlight_config, file_id)?;
     let semantic_tokens = to_proto::semantic_tokens(&text, &line_index, highlights);
 
     // Unconditionally cache the tokens
@@ -1523,7 +1527,11 @@ pub(crate) fn handle_semantic_tokens_full_delta(
     let text = snap.analysis.file_text(file_id)?;
     let line_index = snap.file_line_index(file_id)?;
 
-    let highlights = snap.analysis.highlight(snap.config.highlighting_config(), file_id)?;
+    let mut highlight_config = snap.config.highlighting_config();
+    // Avoid flashing a bunch of unresolved references when the proc-macro servers haven't been spawned yet.
+    highlight_config.syntactic_name_ref_highlighting = !snap.proc_macros_loaded;
+
+    let highlights = snap.analysis.highlight(highlight_config, file_id)?;
     let semantic_tokens = to_proto::semantic_tokens(&text, &line_index, highlights);
 
     let mut cache = snap.semantic_tokens_cache.lock();
diff --git a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/reload.rs b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/reload.rs
index ceb2a6d703d9..f23bbca63876 100644
--- a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/reload.rs
+++ b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/reload.rs
@@ -347,8 +347,8 @@ impl GlobalState {
                             error
                         })
                     })
-                    .collect();
-            }
+                    .collect()
+            };
         }
 
         let watch = match files_config.watcher {