diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/CompileCommands.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/CompileCommands.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/CompileCommands.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/CompileCommands.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 #include "clang/Driver/Options.h"
 #include "clang/Frontend/CompilerInvocation.h"
 #include "clang/Tooling/ArgumentsAdjusters.h"
+#include "llvm/ADT/STLExtras.h"
+#include "llvm/ADT/StringRef.h"
 #include "llvm/Option/Option.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/Allocator.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/Debug.h"
@@ -202,14 +204,9 @@
     return false;
   };
 
-  // clangd should not write files to disk, including dependency files
-  // requested on the command line.
-  Cmd = tooling::getClangStripDependencyFileAdjuster()(Cmd, "");
-  // Strip plugin related command line arguments. Clangd does
-  // not support plugins currently. Therefore it breaks if
-  // compiler tries to load plugins.
-  Cmd = tooling::getStripPluginsAdjuster()(Cmd, "");
-  Cmd = tooling::getClangSyntaxOnlyAdjuster()(Cmd, "");
+  llvm::erase_if(Cmd, [](llvm::StringRef Elem) {
+    return Elem.startswith("--save-temps") || Elem.startswith("-save-temps");
+  });
 
   std::vector<std::string> ToAppend;
   if (ResourceDir && !Has("-resource-dir"))
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/Compiler.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/Compiler.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/Compiler.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/Compiler.cpp
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
   // our compiler invocation set-up doesn't seem to work with it (leading
   // assertions in VerifyDiagnosticConsumer).
   CI->getDiagnosticOpts().VerifyDiagnostics = false;
+  CI->getDiagnosticOpts().ShowColors = false;
 
   // Disable any dependency outputting, we don't want to generate files or write
   // to stdout/stderr.
@@ -90,6 +91,12 @@
   CI->getHeaderSearchOpts().ModuleFormat =
       PCHContainerOperations().getRawReader().getFormat().str();
 
+  CI->getFrontendOpts().Plugins.clear();
+  CI->getFrontendOpts().AddPluginActions.clear();
+  CI->getFrontendOpts().PluginArgs.clear();
+  CI->getFrontendOpts().ProgramAction = frontend::ParseSyntaxOnly;
+  CI->getFrontendOpts().ActionName.clear();
+
   return CI;
 }
 
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompileCommandsTests.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompileCommandsTests.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompileCommandsTests.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompileCommandsTests.cpp
@@ -41,11 +41,9 @@
   Mangler.ClangPath = testPath("fake/clang");
   Mangler.ResourceDir = testPath("fake/resources");
   Mangler.Sysroot = testPath("fake/sysroot");
-  std::vector<std::string> Cmd = {"clang++", "-Xclang", "-load",
-                                  "-Xclang", "plugin",  "-MF",
-                                  "dep",     "--",      "foo.cc"};
+  std::vector<std::string> Cmd = {"clang++", "--", "foo.cc"};
   Mangler.adjust(Cmd);
-  EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, ElementsAre(testPath("fake/clang++"), "-fsyntax-only",
+  EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, ElementsAre(testPath("fake/clang++"),
                                "-resource-dir=" + testPath("fake/resources"),
                                "-isysroot", testPath("fake/sysroot"), "--",
                                "foo.cc"));
@@ -69,38 +67,6 @@
               HasSubstr("-isysroot " + testPath("fake/sysroot")));
 }
 
-TEST(CommandMangler, StripPlugins) {
-  auto Mangler = CommandMangler::forTests();
-  std::vector<std::string> Cmd = {"clang++", "-Xclang", "-load",
-                                  "-Xclang", "plugin",  "foo.cc"};
-  Mangler.adjust(Cmd);
-  for (const char* Stripped : {"-Xclang", "-load", "plugin"})
-    EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, Not(Contains(Stripped)));
-}
-
-TEST(CommandMangler, StripOutput) {
-  auto Mangler = CommandMangler::forTests();
-  std::vector<std::string> Cmd = {"clang++", "-MF", "dependency", "-c",
-                                  "foo.cc"};
-  Mangler.adjust(Cmd);
-  for (const char* Stripped : {"-MF", "dependency"})
-    EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, Not(Contains(Stripped)));
-}
-
-TEST(CommandMangler, StripShowIncludes) {
-  auto Mangler = CommandMangler::forTests();
-  std::vector<std::string> Cmd = {"clang-cl", "/showIncludes", "foo.cc"};
-  Mangler.adjust(Cmd);
-  EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, Not(Contains("/showIncludes")));
-}
-
-TEST(CommandMangler, StripShowIncludesUser) {
-  auto Mangler = CommandMangler::forTests();
-  std::vector<std::string> Cmd = {"clang-cl", "/showIncludes:user", "foo.cc"};
-  Mangler.adjust(Cmd);
-  EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, Not(Contains("/showIncludes:user")));
-}
-
 TEST(CommandMangler, ClangPath) {
   auto Mangler = CommandMangler::forTests();
   Mangler.ClangPath = testPath("fake/clang");
@@ -205,7 +171,7 @@
     Mangler.adjust(Cmd);
   }
   // Edits are applied in given order and before other mangling.
-  EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, ElementsAre(_, "FOO.CC", "--hello", "-fsyntax-only"));
+  EXPECT_THAT(Cmd, ElementsAre(_, "FOO.CC", "--hello"));
 }
 
 static std::string strip(llvm::StringRef Arg, llvm::StringRef Argv) {
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompilerTests.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompilerTests.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompilerTests.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/CompilerTests.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 
 #include "Compiler.h"
 #include "TestTU.h"
+#include "clang/Frontend/DependencyOutputOptions.h"
+#include "clang/Frontend/FrontendOptions.h"
 #include "clang/Lex/PreprocessorOptions.h"
 #include "gmock/gmock.h"
 #include "gtest/gtest.h"
@@ -56,6 +58,50 @@
   TU.build(); // no-crash
 }
 
+TEST(BuildCompilerInvocation, DropsShowIncludes) {
+  MockFS FS;
+  IgnoreDiagnostics Diags;
+  TestTU TU;
+
+  TU.ExtraArgs = {"-Xclang", "--show-includes"};
+  EXPECT_THAT(buildCompilerInvocation(TU.inputs(FS), Diags)
+                  ->getDependencyOutputOpts()
+                  .ShowIncludesDest,
+              ShowIncludesDestination::None);
+
+  TU.ExtraArgs = {"/showIncludes", "--driver-mode=cl"};
+  EXPECT_THAT(buildCompilerInvocation(TU.inputs(FS), Diags)
+                  ->getDependencyOutputOpts()
+                  .ShowIncludesDest,
+              ShowIncludesDestination::None);
+
+  TU.ExtraArgs = {"/showIncludes:user", "--driver-mode=cl"};
+  EXPECT_THAT(buildCompilerInvocation(TU.inputs(FS), Diags)
+                  ->getDependencyOutputOpts()
+                  .ShowIncludesDest,
+              ShowIncludesDestination::None);
+}
+
+TEST(BuildCompilerInvocation, DropsPlugins) {
+  MockFS FS;
+  IgnoreDiagnostics Diags;
+  TestTU TU;
+
+  TU.ExtraArgs = {"-Xclang", "-load",
+                  "-Xclang", "plugins.so",
+                  "-Xclang", "-plugin",
+                  "-Xclang", "my_plugin",
+                  "-Xclang", "-plugin-arg-my_plugin",
+                  "-Xclang", "foo=bar",
+                  "-Xclang", "-add-plugin",
+                  "-Xclang", "my_plugin2"};
+  auto &Opts = buildCompilerInvocation(TU.inputs(FS), Diags)->getFrontendOpts();
+  EXPECT_THAT(Opts.Plugins, IsEmpty());
+  EXPECT_THAT(Opts.PluginArgs, IsEmpty());
+  EXPECT_THAT(Opts.AddPluginActions, IsEmpty());
+  EXPECT_EQ(Opts.ProgramAction, frontend::ActionKind::ParseSyntaxOnly);
+  EXPECT_TRUE(Opts.ActionName.empty());
+}
 } // namespace
 } // namespace clangd
 } // namespace clang