diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
index 1d3a89210..dc09b785b 100644
--- a/.bazelrc
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -29,9 +29,8 @@ build:opt -c opt
 # still running, so shut them down at the end of the build.
 build:windows --worker_quit_after_build
 
-# place convenience symlinks outside of the source folder, so IDEs don't try to
-# monitor Bazel's large symlink tree for changes
-build --symlink_prefix=../bazel/anki/
+# place convenience symlinks inside a single folder for easier exclusion in IDEs
+build --symlink_prefix=.bazel/
 build --experimental_no_product_name_out_symlink
 
 # allow extra user customizations in a separate file
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e5975dbc1..b59d2f5af 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ user.bazelrc
 rust-project.json
 node_modules
 .idea/
+.bazel
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
index 4fd87b113..993214aef 100644
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
 {
     "editor.formatOnSave": true,
+    "files.watcherExclude": {
+        "**/.git/objects/**": true,
+        "**/.git/subtree-cache/**": true,
+        "**/node_modules/*/**": true,
+        ".bazel/**": true
+    },
     "python.analysis.extraPaths": ["./pylib"],
     "python.formatting.provider": "black",
     "rust-analyzer.cargo.runBuildScripts": true,
     "rust-analyzer.checkOnSave.allTargets": false,
-    "rust-analyzer.files.excludeDirs": ["node_modules"],
+    "rust-analyzer.files.excludeDirs": [".bazel", "node_modules"],
     "rust-analyzer.procMacro.enable": true,
     // this formats 'use' blocks in a nicer way, but requires you to run
     // 'rustup install nightly'.
-    "rust-analyzer.rustfmt.extraArgs": ["+nightly"]
+    "rust-analyzer.rustfmt.extraArgs": ["+nightly"],
+    "search.exclude": {
+        "**/node_modules": true,
+        ".bazel/**": true
+    }
 }
diff --git a/qt/dmypy.py b/qt/dmypy.py
index 47d266272..65f2460f7 100755
--- a/qt/dmypy.py
+++ b/qt/dmypy.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import time
 from pathlib import Path
 
 workspace = Path(os.environ["BUILD_WORKSPACE_DIRECTORY"])
-binroot = workspace / "../bazel/anki/bin"
+binroot = workspace / ".bazel/bin"
 dmypy_bin = binroot / "external/py_deps_mypy/rules_python_wheel_entry_point_dmypy"
 
 if sys.platform.startswith("win32"):
@@ -30,13 +30,13 @@ if subprocess.run(
         "--",
         "--config-file",
         "qt/mypy.ini",
-        "../bazel/anki/bin/qt/dmypy.runfiles/ankidesktop/pylib/anki",
-        "../bazel/anki/bin/qt/dmypy.runfiles/ankidesktop/qt/aqt",
+        ".bazel/bin/qt/dmypy.runfiles/ankidesktop/pylib/anki",
+        ".bazel/bin/qt/dmypy.runfiles/ankidesktop/qt/aqt",
         "--python-executable",
         os.path.abspath("python/stubs/extendsitepkgs"),
     ],
     env={
-        "MYPYPATH": "../bazel/anki/bin/qt/dmypy.runfiles/pyqt6",
+        "MYPYPATH": ".bazel/bin/qt/dmypy.runfiles/pyqt6",
         "EXTRA_SITE_PACKAGES": os.path.abspath(os.getenv("EXTRA_SITE_PACKAGES")),
     },
     cwd=workspace,
diff --git a/scripts/build b/scripts/build
index 2ba907ea2..cb6081935 100755
--- a/scripts/build
+++ b/scripts/build
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ test -e WORKSPACE || (
 
 rm -rf bazel-dist
 bazel build --config opt dist
-tar xvf ../bazel/anki/bin/dist.tar
+tar xvf .bazel/bin/dist.tar
diff --git a/scripts/svelte-check b/scripts/svelte-check
index cc43eb962..0f9732cd7 100755
--- a/scripts/svelte-check
+++ b/scripts/svelte-check
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-SASS_PATH=ts/sass:$(pwd)/../bazel/anki/bin/ts/sass \
+. scripts/node-env
+SASS_PATH=ts/sass:$(pwd)/.bazel/bin/ts/sass \
     node_modules/.bin/svelte-check \
     --workspace ts
diff --git a/scripts/ts-run b/scripts/ts-run
index 69a7efc51..08cb929c4 100755
--- a/scripts/ts-run
+++ b/scripts/ts-run
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@
 # The pages can be accessed by, eg surfing to
 # http://localhost:40000/_anki/pages/deckconfig.html
 
-ANKI_DATA_FOLDER=$(pwd)/../bazel/anki/bin/qt/aqt \
+ANKI_DATA_FOLDER=$(pwd)/.bazel/bin/qt/aqt \
   QTWEBENGINE_REMOTE_DEBUGGING=8080 \
   ANKI_API_PORT=40000 ANKIDEV=1 ./run $*
diff --git a/ts/tsconfig.json b/ts/tsconfig.json
index b477c4e80..b8e917aea 100644
--- a/ts/tsconfig.json
+++ b/ts/tsconfig.json
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@
         "rootDir": "..",
         "rootDirs": [
             ".",
-            // for VS code
-            "../../bazel/anki/bin/ts"
+            // for VS code and svelte-check
+            "../.bazel/bin/ts"
         ],
         "baseUrl": ".",
         "paths": {},