diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3692c4311..f9c93920c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ __pycache__
 anki.prof
 target
 user.bazelrc
+.dmypy.json
diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index f70ad95ff..653ba48d6 100644
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -117,6 +117,13 @@ To run a single Python library test, eg test_bury:
 PYTEST=test_bury bazel run //pylib:pytest
 ```
 
+On Mac/Linux, after installing 'fswatch', you can run mypy on
+each file save automatically with:
+
+```
+./scripts/mypy-watch
+```
+
 ## Fixing formatting
 
 If the format tests fail, most can be fixed by running `format`
diff --git a/pip/BUILD.bazel b/pip/BUILD.bazel
index 88b688004..f4e59faf3 100644
--- a/pip/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/pip/BUILD.bazel
@@ -8,6 +8,11 @@ pip_binary(name = "isort")
 
 pip_binary(name = "mypy")
 
+pip_binary(
+    name = "dmypy",
+    pkg = "mypy",
+)
+
 pip_binary(name = "pylint")
 
 pip_binary(
diff --git a/pip/binary.bzl b/pip/binary.bzl
index c2ada5ca3..e8d8aedcb 100644
--- a/pip/binary.bzl
+++ b/pip/binary.bzl
@@ -25,4 +25,5 @@ def pip_binary(name, pkg = None):
         deps = [
             requirement(pkg),
         ],
+        visibility = ["//visibility:public"],
     )
diff --git a/qt/BUILD.bazel b/qt/BUILD.bazel
index c48586ba5..dd5e50700 100644
--- a/qt/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/qt/BUILD.bazel
@@ -129,6 +129,23 @@ py_binary(
     ],
 )
 
+py_binary(
+    name = "dmypy",
+    srcs = [
+        "dmypy.py",
+    ],
+    data = [
+        # ensure the binary's been built
+        "//pip:dmypy",
+    ],
+    imports = ["."],
+    tags = ["manual"],
+    deps = [
+        "//pylib/anki",
+        "//qt/aqt:aqt_without_data",
+    ],
+)
+
 py_binary(
     name = "profile",
     srcs = ["tools/profile.py"],
diff --git a/qt/dmypy-watch.sh b/qt/dmypy-watch.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 86109eb62..000000000
--- a/qt/dmypy-watch.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# semi-working support for mypy daemon
-# - install fs_watch
-# - build anki/aqt wheels first
-# - create a new venv and activate it
-# - install the wheels
-# - then run this script from this folder
-
-(sleep 1 && touch aqt)
-. ~/pyenv/bin/activate
-fswatch -o aqt | xargs -n1 -I{} sh -c 'printf \\033c\\n; dmypy run aqt'
-
diff --git a/qt/dmypy.py b/qt/dmypy.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ba3d6dc5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qt/dmypy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Copyright: Ankitects Pty Ltd and contributors
+# License: GNU AGPL, version 3 or later; http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html
+
+"""
+Helper to run mypy in daemon mode. See development.md. Windows is not
+currently supported.
+"""
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+workspace = Path(os.environ["BUILD_WORKSPACE_DIRECTORY"])
+binroot = workspace / "bazel-bin"
+pyroot = binroot / "pip"
+
+if sys.platform.startswith("win32"):
+    binext = ".exe"
+else:
+    binext = ""
+
+if subprocess.run(
+    [
+        str(pyroot / ("dmypy" + binext)),
+    ]
+    + [
+        "run",
+        "--",
+        "--config-file",
+        "qt/mypy.ini",
+        "bazel-bin/qt/runmypy.runfiles/net_ankiweb_anki/pylib/anki",
+        "bazel-bin/qt/runmypy.runfiles/net_ankiweb_anki/qt/aqt",
+    ],
+    env={"MYPYPATH":"bazel-bin/qt/runmypy.runfiles/pyqt5/"},
+    cwd=workspace
+).returncode:
+    sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/scripts/mypy b/scripts/mypy
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..6dc249a15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/mypy
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Run mypy, keeping it around as a daemon for faster checks.
+# Does not work on Windows.
+
+bazel run qt:dmypy
diff --git a/scripts/mypy-watch b/scripts/mypy-watch
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f99018f75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/mypy-watch
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Run mypy as a daemon each time files change. Requires
+# fswatch to be installed, and not working on Windows.
+
+# run once at startup
+cmd='printf \\033c\\n; bazel run qt:dmypy'
+sh -c "$cmd"
+
+# then monitor for changes
+fswatch -r -o pylib qt | xargs -n1 -I{} sh -c "$cmd"
\ No newline at end of file