diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 35af9f88bf..78da39b211 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -143,8 +143,6 @@ set(NVIM_API_PRERELEASE false)
 set(NVIM_VERSION_BUILD_TYPE "${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}")
 # NVIM_VERSION_CFLAGS set further below.
 
-set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
-
 # Log level (MIN_LOG_LEVEL in log.h)
 if("${MIN_LOG_LEVEL}" MATCHES "^$")
   # Minimize logging for release-type builds.
diff --git a/src/nvim/CMakeLists.txt b/src/nvim/CMakeLists.txt
index 504fe6ff4a..d07865ac6b 100755
--- a/src/nvim/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/nvim/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -446,6 +446,11 @@ set(NVIM_EXEC_LINK_LIBRARIES ${NVIM_LINK_LIBRARIES} ${LUA_PREFERRED_LIBRARIES})
 add_executable(nvim ${NVIM_GENERATED_FOR_SOURCES} ${NVIM_GENERATED_FOR_HEADERS}
   ${NVIM_GENERATED_SOURCES} ${NVIM_SOURCES} ${NVIM_HEADERS}
   ${EXTERNAL_SOURCES} ${EXTERNAL_HEADERS})
+
+set_target_properties(nvim
+  PROPERTIES
+  EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
+
 target_link_libraries(nvim ${NVIM_EXEC_LINK_LIBRARIES})
 install_helper(TARGETS nvim)
 if(MSVC)