diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e702ac9b85..1b93f20aa2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 .DS_Store
 .gwt_work_dir
 /.apt_generated
+/.bazel_path
 /.buckd
 /.classpath
 /.factorypath
diff --git a/gerrit-httpd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/httpd/raw/BazelBuild.java b/gerrit-httpd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/httpd/raw/BazelBuild.java
index d2e3b58d94..5faca9c9b7 100644
--- a/gerrit-httpd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/httpd/raw/BazelBuild.java
+++ b/gerrit-httpd/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/httpd/raw/BazelBuild.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.httpd.raw;
 
+import static com.google.common.base.MoreObjects.firstNonNull;
 import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 
 import com.google.common.escape.Escaper;
@@ -25,7 +26,11 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.InterruptedIOException;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -117,8 +122,24 @@ public class BazelBuild {
     }
   }
 
-  private ProcessBuilder newBuildProcess(Label label) {
-    return new ProcessBuilder("bazel", "build", label.fullName());
+  private Properties loadBuildProperties(Path propPath) throws IOException {
+    Properties properties = new Properties();
+    try (InputStream in = Files.newInputStream(propPath)) {
+      properties.load(in);
+    } catch (NoSuchFileException e) {
+      // Ignore; will be run from PATH, with a descriptive error if it fails.
+    }
+    return properties;
+  }
+
+  private ProcessBuilder newBuildProcess(Label label) throws IOException {
+    Properties properties = loadBuildProperties(sourceRoot.resolve(".bazel_path"));
+    String bazel = firstNonNull(properties.getProperty("bazel"), "bazel");
+    ProcessBuilder proc = new ProcessBuilder(bazel, "build", label.fullName());
+    if (properties.containsKey("PATH")) {
+      proc.environment().put("PATH", properties.getProperty("PATH"));
+    }
+    return proc;
   }
 
   /** returns the root relative path to the artifact for the given label */
diff --git a/tools/eclipse/project.py b/tools/eclipse/project.py
index 7ea09892ed..5e8d69af31 100755
--- a/tools/eclipse/project.py
+++ b/tools/eclipse/project.py
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@ args, _ = opts.parse_args()
 def retrieve_ext_location():
   return check_output(['bazel', 'info', 'output_base']).strip()
 
+def gen_bazel_path():
+  bazel = check_output(['which', 'bazel']).strip()
+  with open(path.join(ROOT, ".bazel_path"), 'w') as fd:
+    fd.write("bazel=%s\n" % bazel)
+    fd.write("PATH=%s\n" % environ["PATH"])
+
 def _query_classpath(target):
   deps = []
   t = cp_targets[target]
@@ -258,6 +264,7 @@ try:
   gen_project(args.project_name)
   gen_classpath(ext_location)
   gen_factorypath(ext_location)
+  gen_bazel_path()
 
   # TODO(davido): Remove this when GWT gone
   gwt_working_dir = ".gwt_work_dir"