diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0fc39ecbae5b..7ee4342439be 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ testlogs/
 local/
 compiler/test/debug/Gen.jar
 
+/bin/.cp
+
 before-pickling.txt
 after-pickling.txt
 bench/compile.txt
diff --git a/bin/commonQ b/bin/commonQ
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..a25d52db3d90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/commonQ
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+cp=$(cat $ROOT/bin/.cp) 2> /dev/null
+
+if [[ "$cp" == "" ]]; then
+  echo "run 'sbt buildQuick' first"
+  exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/bin/scalaQ b/bin/scalaQ
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..c14a2f0372ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/scalaQ
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" >& /dev/null && pwd)/.."
+. $ROOT/bin/commonQ
+
+java -cp $cp dotty.tools.MainGenericRunner -usejavacp "$@"
diff --git a/bin/scalacQ b/bin/scalacQ
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..094491834a88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/scalacQ
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" >& /dev/null && pwd)/.."
+. $ROOT/bin/commonQ
+
+java -cp $cp dotty.tools.dotc.Main -usejavacp "$@"
diff --git a/bin/scaladocQ b/bin/scaladocQ
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..3f63b482837e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/scaladocQ
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" >& /dev/null && pwd)/.."
+. $ROOT/bin/commonQ
+
+java -cp $cp dotty.tools.scaladoc.Main -usejavacp "$@"
diff --git a/docs/_docs/contributing/getting-started.md b/docs/_docs/contributing/getting-started.md
index 63e968902600..482aeda99807 100644
--- a/docs/_docs/contributing/getting-started.md
+++ b/docs/_docs/contributing/getting-started.md
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ $ scalac tests/pos/HelloWorld.scala
 $ scala HelloWorld
 ```
 
+Note that the `scalac` and `scala` scripts have slow roundtrip times when working on the compiler codebase: whenever
+any source file changes they invoke `sbt dist/pack` first.
+
+As an alternative, run the `buildQuick` task in sbt and then use the `scalacQ`, `scalaQ` and `scaladocQ` scripts
+in the `bin/` folder. These scripts invoke the compiler using the classfiles from the `out/` directory which are
+updated incrementally when working on the compiler.
+
 ## Starting a REPL
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/project/Build.scala b/project/Build.scala
index ba6fe5a555fd..e126fed8a322 100644
--- a/project/Build.scala
+++ b/project/Build.scala
@@ -202,6 +202,8 @@ object Build {
 
   val repl = taskKey[Unit]("spawns a repl with the correct classpath")
 
+  val buildQuick = taskKey[Unit]("builds the compiler and enables bin/scalaQ, bin/scalacQ, bin/scaladocQ")
+
   // Compiles the documentation and static site
   val genDocs = inputKey[Unit]("run scaladoc to generate static documentation site")
 
@@ -2140,6 +2142,10 @@ object Build {
         // default.
         addCommandAlias("publishLocal", "scala3-bootstrapped/publishLocal"),
         repl := (`scala3-compiler-bootstrapped` / repl).value,
+        buildQuick := {
+          val cp = (LocalProject("scaladoc") / Compile / fullClasspath).value.map(_.data.getAbsolutePath).mkString(":")
+          IO.write(baseDirectory.value / "bin" / ".cp", cp)
+        },
         (Compile / console) := (Compile / console).dependsOn(Def.task {
           import _root_.scala.io.AnsiColor._
           val msg = "`console` uses the reference Scala version. Use `repl` instead."