diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/compile.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/compile.rs
index 1936c91ef83c1..102c9fd255432 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/compile.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/compile.rs
@@ -1912,7 +1912,7 @@ impl Step for Assemble {
         // delegates to the `rust-lld` binary for linking and then runs
         // logic to create the final binary. This is used by the
         // `wasm32-wasip2` target of Rust.
-        if builder.build_wasm_component_ld() {
+        if builder.tool_enabled("wasm-component-ld") {
             let wasm_component_ld_exe =
                 builder.ensure(crate::core::build_steps::tool::WasmComponentLd {
                     compiler: build_compiler,
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs
index 4957de2e1b791..ccb5656d6716c 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/dist.rs
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ impl Step for Rustc {
                     );
                 }
             }
-            if builder.build_wasm_component_ld() {
+            if builder.tool_enabled("wasm-component-ld") {
                 let src_dir = builder.sysroot_libdir(compiler, host).parent().unwrap().join("bin");
                 let ld = exe("wasm-component-ld", compiler.host);
                 builder.copy_link(&src_dir.join(&ld), &dst_dir.join(&ld));
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/tool.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/tool.rs
index 3a1eb43b801f5..3c2d791c2090e 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/tool.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/core/build_steps/tool.rs
@@ -693,14 +693,7 @@ impl Step for Cargo {
 
     fn should_run(run: ShouldRun<'_>) -> ShouldRun<'_> {
         let builder = run.builder;
-        run.path("src/tools/cargo").default_condition(
-            builder.config.extended
-                && builder.config.tools.as_ref().map_or(
-                    true,
-                    // If `tools` is set, search list for this tool.
-                    |tools| tools.iter().any(|tool| tool == "cargo"),
-                ),
-        )
+        run.path("src/tools/cargo").default_condition(builder.tool_enabled("cargo"))
     }
 
     fn make_run(run: RunConfig<'_>) {
@@ -772,14 +765,7 @@ impl Step for RustAnalyzer {
 
     fn should_run(run: ShouldRun<'_>) -> ShouldRun<'_> {
         let builder = run.builder;
-        run.path("src/tools/rust-analyzer").default_condition(
-            builder.config.extended
-                && builder
-                    .config
-                    .tools
-                    .as_ref()
-                    .map_or(true, |tools| tools.iter().any(|tool| tool == "rust-analyzer")),
-        )
+        run.path("src/tools/rust-analyzer").default_condition(builder.tool_enabled("rust-analyzer"))
     }
 
     fn make_run(run: RunConfig<'_>) {
@@ -821,12 +807,8 @@ impl Step for RustAnalyzerProcMacroSrv {
         run.path("src/tools/rust-analyzer")
             .path("src/tools/rust-analyzer/crates/proc-macro-srv-cli")
             .default_condition(
-                builder.config.extended
-                    && builder.config.tools.as_ref().map_or(true, |tools| {
-                        tools.iter().any(|tool| {
-                            tool == "rust-analyzer" || tool == "rust-analyzer-proc-macro-srv"
-                        })
-                    }),
+                builder.tool_enabled("rust-analyzer")
+                    || builder.tool_enabled("rust-analyzer-proc-macro-srv"),
             )
     }
 
@@ -874,16 +856,8 @@ impl Step for LlvmBitcodeLinker {
 
     fn should_run(run: ShouldRun<'_>) -> ShouldRun<'_> {
         let builder = run.builder;
-        run.path("src/tools/llvm-bitcode-linker").default_condition(
-            builder.config.extended
-                && builder
-                    .config
-                    .tools
-                    .as_ref()
-                    .map_or(builder.build.unstable_features(), |tools| {
-                        tools.iter().any(|tool| tool == "llvm-bitcode-linker")
-                    }),
-        )
+        run.path("src/tools/llvm-bitcode-linker")
+            .default_condition(builder.tool_enabled("llvm-bitcode-linker"))
     }
 
     fn make_run(run: RunConfig<'_>) {
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs b/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs
index c76ce3409562e..780024e307edc 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/src/lib.rs
@@ -1407,16 +1407,17 @@ Executed at: {executed_at}"#,
         None
     }
 
-    /// Returns whether it's requested that `wasm-component-ld` is built as part
-    /// of the sysroot. This is done either with the `extended` key in
-    /// `config.toml` or with the `tools` set.
-    fn build_wasm_component_ld(&self) -> bool {
-        if self.config.extended {
-            return true;
+    /// Returns whether the specified tool is configured as part of this build.
+    ///
+    /// This requires that both the `extended` key is set and the `tools` key is
+    /// either unset or specifically contains the specified tool.
+    fn tool_enabled(&self, tool: &str) -> bool {
+        if !self.config.extended {
+            return false;
         }
         match &self.config.tools {
-            Some(set) => set.contains("wasm-component-ld"),
-            None => false,
+            Some(set) => set.contains(tool),
+            None => true,
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/tools/wasm-component-ld/README.md b/src/tools/wasm-component-ld/README.md
index 54608a2dea1d4..b51de9a9dce2f 100644
--- a/src/tools/wasm-component-ld/README.md
+++ b/src/tools/wasm-component-ld/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # `wasm-component-ld`
 
-This wrapper is a wrapper around the [`wasm-component-ld`] crates.io crate. That
-crate. That crate is itself a thin wrapper around two pieces:
+This wrapper is a wrapper around the [`wasm-component-ld`] crates.io crate.
+That crate is itself a thin wrapper around two pieces:
 
 * `wasm-ld` - the LLVM-based linker distributed as part of LLD and packaged in
   Rust as `rust-lld`.