diff --git a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/run/targetfinder/ProjectTargetFinder.java b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/run/targetfinder/ProjectTargetFinder.java
index c94aded128b..024c39dd065 100644
--- a/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/run/targetfinder/ProjectTargetFinder.java
+++ b/base/src/com/google/idea/blaze/base/run/targetfinder/ProjectTargetFinder.java
@@ -16,14 +16,24 @@
 package com.google.idea.blaze.base.run.targetfinder;
 
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.Futures;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.async.process.ExternalTask;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.async.process.LineProcessingOutputStream;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.bazel.BuildSystem;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.command.BlazeCommand;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.command.BlazeCommandName;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.dependencies.TargetInfo;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.ideinfo.TargetIdeInfo;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.ideinfo.TargetKey;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.ideinfo.TargetMap;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.model.BlazeProjectData;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.model.primitives.Label;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.model.primitives.WorkspaceRoot;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.qsync.QuerySync;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.query.BlazeQueryLabelKindParser;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.scope.BlazeContext;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.base.settings.Blaze;
 import com.google.idea.blaze.base.sync.data.BlazeProjectDataManager;
+import com.google.idea.blaze.common.PrintOutput;
 import com.intellij.openapi.project.Project;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
@@ -32,6 +42,41 @@
 /** Uses the project's {@link TargetMap} to locate targets matching a given label. */
 class ProjectTargetFinder implements TargetFinder {
 
+  // Query the target explicitly if it's excluded from the initial sync process (e.g.
+  // has a manual tag - see https://github.com/bazelbuild/intellij/issues/4546
+  private static Future<TargetInfo> runBlazeQuery(Project project, Label label) {
+    BuildSystem buildSystem = Blaze.getBuildSystemProvider(project).getBuildSystem();
+
+    BlazeContext context = BlazeContext.create();
+    BlazeCommand command =
+            BlazeCommand.builder(
+                            buildSystem.getDefaultInvoker(project, context), BlazeCommandName.QUERY)
+                    .addBlazeFlags("--output=label_kind")
+                    .addBlazeFlags(label.toString())
+                    .build();
+
+    BlazeQueryLabelKindParser outputProcessor = new BlazeQueryLabelKindParser(t -> true);
+
+    int retVal =
+            ExternalTask.builder(WorkspaceRoot.fromProject(project))
+                    .addBlazeCommand(command)
+                    .context(context)
+                    .stdout(LineProcessingOutputStream.of(outputProcessor))
+                    .stderr(
+                            LineProcessingOutputStream.of(
+                                    line -> {
+                                      context.output(PrintOutput.error(line));
+                                      return true;
+                                    }))
+                    .build()
+                    .run();
+
+    if (retVal == 0 && outputProcessor.getTargets().size() == 1) {
+      return Futures.immediateFuture(outputProcessor.getTargets().get(0));
+    }
+    return Futures.immediateFuture(null);
+  }
+
   @Override
   public Future<TargetInfo> findTarget(Project project, Label label) {
     // TODO(b/262428615): Retrieve data from query sync
@@ -41,6 +86,11 @@ public Future<TargetInfo> findTarget(Project project, Label label) {
     BlazeProjectData projectData =
         BlazeProjectDataManager.getInstance(project).getBlazeProjectData();
     TargetInfo target = projectData != null ? findTarget(projectData.getTargetMap(), label) : null;
+
+    if (target == null) {
+      return runBlazeQuery(project, label);
+    }
+
     return Futures.immediateFuture(target);
   }