diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 57984c49..fef6c13f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@
 * Warn when it appears the primary font is not monospaced. Can be
   disabled by setting `[tweak].font-monospace-warn=no`
   (https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot/issues/704).
+* PGO build scripts, in the `pgo` directory. See INSTALL.md -
+  _Performance optimized, PGO_, for details
+  (https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot/issues/701).
 
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index 9543948e..40b128e7 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -274,6 +274,32 @@ slower!) binary.
 
 #### Performance optimized, PGO
 
+There are a lot more steps involved in a PGO build, and for this
+reason there are a number of helper scripts available.
+
+`pgo/pgo.sh` is a standalone script that pieces together the other
+scripts in the `pgo` directory to do a complete PGO build. This script
+is intended to be used when doing manual builds.
+
+Example:
+
+```sh
+cd foot
+./pgo/pgo.sh auto . /tmp/foot-pgo-build-output
+```
+
+(run `./pgo/pgo.sh` to get help on usage)
+
+It supports a couple of different PGO builds; partial (covered in
+detail below), full (also covered in detail below), and (full)
+headless builds using Sway or cage.
+
+Packagers may want to use it as inspiration, but may choose to support
+only a specific build type; e.g. full/headless with Sway.
+
+To do a manual PGO build, instead of using the script(s) mentioned
+above, detailed instructions follows:
+
 First, configure the build directory:
 
 ```sh
diff --git a/PKGBUILD b/PKGBUILD
index b05d7078..4cff4a6c 100644
--- a/PKGBUILD
+++ b/PKGBUILD
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+PGO=auto           # auto|none|partial|full-current-session|full-headless-sway|full-headless-cage
+
 pkgname=('foot-git' 'foot-terminfo-git')
 pkgver=1.9.0
 pkgrel=1
@@ -14,80 +16,7 @@ pkgver() {
 }
 
 build() {
-  local compiler=other
-  local do_pgo=no
-
-  # makepkg uses -O2 by default, but we *really* want -O3
-  CFLAGS+=" -O3"
-
-  # Figure out which compiler we're using, and whether or not to do PGO
-  case $(${CC-cc} --version) in
-    *GCC*)
-      compiler=gcc
-      do_pgo=yes
-      ;;
-
-    *clang*)
-      compiler=clang
-
-      # We need llvm to be able to manage the profiling data
-      if command -v llvm-profdata > /dev/null; then
-        do_pgo=yes
-
-        # Meson adds -fprofile-correction, which Clang doesn't
-        # understand
-        CFLAGS+=" -Wno-ignored-optimization-argument"
-      fi
-      ;;
-  esac
-
-  meson \
-    --prefix=/usr \
-    --buildtype=release \
-    --wrap-mode=nofallback \
-    -Db_lto=true ..
-
-  if [[ ${do_pgo} == yes ]]; then
-    find -name "*.gcda" -delete
-    meson configure -Db_pgo=generate
-    ninja
-
-    # If fcft/tllist are subprojects, we need to ensure their tests
-    # have been executed, or we’ll get “profile count data file not
-    # found” errors.
-    ninja test
-
-    local script_options="--scroll --scroll-region --colors-regular --colors-bright --colors-256 --colors-rgb --attr-bold --attr-italic --attr-underline --sixel"
-
-    tmp_file=$(mktemp)
-
-    if [[ -v WAYLAND_DISPLAY ]]; then
-      ./footclient --version
-      ./foot \
-        --config /dev/null \
-        --term=xterm \
-        sh -c "../scripts/generate-alt-random-writes.py ${script_options} ${tmp_file} && cat ${tmp_file}"
-    else
-      ./footclient --version
-      ./foot --version
-      ../scripts/generate-alt-random-writes.py \
-        --rows=67 \
-        --cols=135 \
-        ${script_options} \
-        ${tmp_file}
-      ./pgo ${tmp_file} ${tmp_file} ${tmp_file}
-    fi
-
-    rm "${tmp_file}"
-
-    if [[ ${compiler} == clang ]]; then
-      llvm-profdata merge default_*profraw --output=default.profdata
-    fi
-
-    meson configure -Db_pgo=use
-  fi
-
-  ninja
+  ../pgo/pgo.sh ${PGO} .. . --prefix=/usr --wrap-mode=nofallback
 }
 
 check() {
diff --git a/pgo/full-current-session.sh b/pgo/full-current-session.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..363ee793
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/full-current-session.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -eux
+
+srcdir=$(realpath "${1}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${2}")
+
+"${srcdir}"/pgo/full-inner.sh "${srcdir}" "${blddir}"
diff --git a/pgo/full-headless-cage.sh b/pgo/full-headless-cage.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..ad5d0264
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/full-headless-cage.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -eux
+
+srcdir=$(realpath "${1}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${2}")
+
+runtime_dir=$(mktemp -d)
+trap "rm -rf '${runtime_dir}'" EXIT INT HUP TERM
+
+XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="${runtime_dir}" WLR_BACKENDS=headless cage "${srcdir}"/pgo/full-inner.sh "${srcdir}" "${blddir}"
+
+# Cage’s exit code doesn’t reflect our script’s exit code
+[ -f "${blddir}"/pgo-ok ] || exit 1
diff --git a/pgo/full-headless-sway-inner.sh b/pgo/full-headless-sway-inner.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..dd612a2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/full-headless-sway-inner.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -ux
+
+srcdir=$(realpath "${1}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${2}")
+
+"${srcdir}"/pgo/full-inner.sh "${srcdir}" "${blddir}"
+swaymsg exit
diff --git a/pgo/full-headless-sway.sh b/pgo/full-headless-sway.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..bbf038b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/full-headless-sway.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -eux
+
+srcdir=$(realpath "${1}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${2}")
+
+runtime_dir=$(mktemp -d)
+sway_conf=$(mktemp)
+
+cleanup() {
+    rm -f "${sway_conf}"
+    rm -rf "${runtime_dir}"
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT INT HUP TERM
+
+# Generate a custom config that executes our generate-pgo-data script
+> "${sway_conf}" echo "exec '${srcdir}'/pgo/full-headless-sway-inner.sh '${srcdir}' '${blddir}'"
+
+# Run Sway. full-headless-sway-inner.sh ends with a ‘swaymsg exit’
+XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="${runtime_dir}" WLR_BACKENDS=headless sway -c "${sway_conf}"
+
+# Sway’s exit code doesn’t reflect our script’s exit code
+[ -f "${blddir}"/pgo-ok ] || exit 1
diff --git a/pgo/full-inner.sh b/pgo/full-inner.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..37cb2fb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/full-inner.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -eux
+
+srcdir=$(realpath "${1}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${2}")
+
+. "${srcdir}"/pgo/options
+
+pgo_data=$(mktemp)
+trap "rm -f '${pgo_data}'" EXIT INT HUP TERM
+
+rm -f "${blddir}"/pgo-ok
+
+# To ensure profiling data is generated in the build directory
+cd "${blddir}"
+
+LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 "${blddir}"/footclient --version
+LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 "${blddir}"/foot \
+        --config=/dev/null \
+        --term=xterm \
+        sh -c "
+          set -eux
+
+         '${srcdir}/scripts/generate-alt-random-writes.py' \
+            ${script_options} \"${pgo_data}\"
+
+         cat \"${pgo_data}\"
+         "
+touch "${blddir}"/pgo-ok
diff --git a/pgo/options b/pgo/options
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3fb821e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/options
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+script_options="--scroll --scroll-region --colors-regular --colors-bright --colors-256 --colors-rgb --attr-bold --attr-italic --attr-underline --sixel"
diff --git a/pgo/partial.sh b/pgo/partial.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..c16de324
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/partial.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -eux
+
+srcdir=$(realpath "${1}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${2}")
+
+. "${srcdir}"/pgo/options
+
+pgo_data=$(mktemp)
+trap "rm -f ${pgo_data}" EXIT INT HUP TERM
+
+rm -f "${blddir}"/pgo-ok
+
+"${srcdir}"/scripts/generate-alt-random-writes.py \
+           --rows=67 \
+           --cols=135 \
+           ${script_options} \
+           "${pgo_data}"
+
+# To ensure profiling data is generated in the build directory
+cd "${blddir}"
+
+"${blddir}"/footclient --version
+"${blddir}"/foot --version
+"${blddir}"/pgo "${pgo_data}"
+
+touch "${blddir}"/pgo-ok
diff --git a/pgo/pgo.sh b/pgo/pgo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..57a016cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pgo/pgo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -eu
+
+usage_and_die() {
+    echo "Usage: ${0} none|partial|full-current-session|full-headless-sway|full-headless-cage|[auto] <source-dir> <build-dir> [meson options]"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+[ ${#} -ge 3 ] || usage_and_die
+
+mode=${1}
+srcdir=$(realpath "${2}")
+blddir=$(realpath "${3}")
+shift 3
+
+# if [ -e "${blddir}" ]; then
+#     echo "error: ${blddir}: build directory already exists"
+#     exit 1
+# fi
+
+compiler=other
+do_pgo=no
+
+CFLAGS="${CFLAGS-} -O3"
+
+case $(${CC-cc} --version) in
+    *GCC*)
+        compiler=gcc
+        do_pgo=yes
+        ;;
+
+    *clang*)
+        compiler=clang
+
+        if command -v llvm-profdata > /dev/null; then
+            do_pgo=yes
+            CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -Wno-ignored-optimization-argument"
+        fi
+        ;;
+esac
+
+case ${mode} in
+    partial|full-current-session|full-headless-sway|full-headless-cage)
+    ;;
+
+    none)
+        do_pgo=no
+        ;;
+
+    auto)
+        # TODO: once Sway 1.6.2 has been released, prefer
+        # full-headless-sway
+
+        if [ -n "${WAYLAND_DISPLAY+x}" ]; then
+            mode=full-current-session
+        # elif command -v sway > /dev/null; then  # Requires 1.6.2
+        #     mode=full-headless-sway
+        elif command -v cage > /dev/null; then
+            mode=full-headless-cage
+        else
+            mode=partial
+        fi
+        ;;
+
+    *)
+        usage_and_die
+        ;;
+esac
+
+set -x
+
+# echo "source: ${srcdir}"
+# echo "build: ${blddir}"
+# echo "compiler: ${compiler}"
+# echo "mode: ${mode}"
+# echo "CFLAGS: ${CFLAGS}"
+
+export CFLAGS
+meson setup --buildtype=release -Db_lto=true "${@}" "${blddir}" "${srcdir}"
+
+if [ ${do_pgo} = yes ]; then
+    find "${blddir}" \
+         '(' \
+           -name "*.gcda" -o \
+           -name "*.profraw" -o \
+           -name default.profdata \
+         ')' \
+         -delete
+
+    meson configure "${blddir}" -Db_pgo=generate
+    ninja -C "${blddir}"
+
+    # If fcft/tllist are subprojects, we need to ensure their tests
+    # have been executed, or we’ll get “profile count data file not
+    # found” errors.
+    ninja -C "${blddir}" test
+
+    # Run mode-dependent script to generate profiling data
+    "${srcdir}"/pgo/${mode}.sh "${srcdir}" "${blddir}"
+
+    if [ ${compiler} = clang ]; then
+        llvm-profdata \
+            merge \
+            "${blddir}"/default_*.profraw \
+            --output="${blddir}"/default.profdata
+    fi
+
+    meson configure "${blddir}" -Db_pgo=use
+fi
+
+ninja -C "${blddir}"