diff --git a/data/bash-completion/fwupdtool b/data/bash-completion/fwupdtool
index 239dce53d..a190abede 100644
--- a/data/bash-completion/fwupdtool
+++ b/data/bash-completion/fwupdtool
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ _show_device_ids()
 		return 0
 	fi
 	local description
-	description="$(command fwupdmgr get-devices --json 2>/dev/null | jq '.Devices | .[] | .DeviceId')"
+	description="$(command jq '.Devices | .[] | .DeviceId' @localstatedir@/cache/fwupd/devices.json 2>/dev/null)"
 	COMPREPLY+=( $(compgen -W "${description}" -- "$cur") )
 }
 
diff --git a/data/bash-completion/meson.build b/data/bash-completion/meson.build
index 3148654c3..1bfc5188f 100644
--- a/data/bash-completion/meson.build
+++ b/data/bash-completion/meson.build
@@ -3,7 +3,14 @@ if bashcomp.found()
     pkgconfig_define: bashcomp.version().version_compare('>= 2.10') ? ['datadir', datadir] : ['prefix', prefix],
   )
 
-  install_data(['fwupdtool'],
+  con = configuration_data()
+  con.set('localstatedir', localstatedir)
+
+  configure_file(
+    input : 'fwupdtool',
+    output : 'fwupdtool',
+    configuration : con,
+    install : true,
     install_dir : completions_dir,
   )
 
diff --git a/src/fu-engine-helper.c b/src/fu-engine-helper.c
index 8ca209d59..d8b0258bd 100644
--- a/src/fu-engine-helper.c
+++ b/src/fu-engine-helper.c
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 
 #include <glib/gi18n.h>
 
+#include "fwupd-device-private.h"
+
 #include "fu-engine-helper.h"
 #include "fu-engine.h"
 
@@ -135,3 +137,49 @@ fu_engine_update_motd(FuEngine *self, GError **error)
 	g_debug("writing motd target %s", target);
 	return g_file_set_contents(target, str->str, str->len, error);
 }
+
+gboolean
+fu_engine_update_devices_file(FuEngine *self, GError **error)
+{
+	gsize len;
+	g_autoptr(JsonBuilder) builder = NULL;
+	g_autoptr(JsonGenerator) generator = NULL;
+	g_autoptr(JsonNode) root = NULL;
+	g_autoptr(GPtrArray) devices = NULL;
+	g_autofree gchar *data = NULL;
+	g_autofree gchar *directory = NULL;
+	g_autofree gchar *target = NULL;
+
+	builder = json_builder_new();
+	json_builder_begin_object(builder);
+	json_builder_set_member_name(builder, "Devices");
+	json_builder_begin_array(builder);
+	devices = fu_engine_get_devices(self, NULL);
+	if (devices != NULL) {
+		for (guint i = 0; i < devices->len; i++) {
+			FwupdDevice *dev = g_ptr_array_index(devices, i);
+			json_builder_begin_object(builder);
+			fwupd_device_to_json(dev, builder);
+			json_builder_end_object(builder);
+		}
+	}
+	json_builder_end_array(builder);
+	json_builder_end_object(builder);
+
+	root = json_builder_get_root(builder);
+	generator = json_generator_new();
+	json_generator_set_pretty(generator, TRUE);
+	json_generator_set_root(generator, root);
+	data = json_generator_to_data(generator, &len);
+	if (data == NULL) {
+		g_set_error_literal(error,
+				    FWUPD_ERROR,
+				    FWUPD_ERROR_INTERNAL,
+				    "Failed to convert to JSON string");
+		return FALSE;
+	}
+
+	directory = fu_path_from_kind(FU_PATH_KIND_CACHEDIR_PKG);
+	target = g_build_filename(directory, "devices.json", NULL);
+	return fu_bytes_set_contents(target, g_bytes_new_take(g_steal_pointer(&data), len), error);
+}
diff --git a/src/fu-engine-helper.h b/src/fu-engine-helper.h
index 76108e171..ce24ca585 100644
--- a/src/fu-engine-helper.h
+++ b/src/fu-engine-helper.h
@@ -9,3 +9,5 @@
 
 gboolean
 fu_engine_update_motd(FuEngine *self, GError **error);
+gboolean
+fu_engine_update_devices_file(FuEngine *self, GError **error);
diff --git a/src/fu-engine.c b/src/fu-engine.c
index c710ab3a6..1b9173353 100644
--- a/src/fu-engine.c
+++ b/src/fu-engine.c
@@ -129,6 +129,8 @@ G_DEFINE_TYPE(FuEngine, fu_engine, G_TYPE_OBJECT)
 static void
 fu_engine_emit_changed(FuEngine *self)
 {
+	g_autoptr(GError) error = NULL;
+
 	g_signal_emit(self, signals[SIGNAL_CHANGED], 0);
 	fu_engine_idle_reset(self);
 
@@ -138,6 +140,10 @@ fu_engine_emit_changed(FuEngine *self)
 		if (!fu_engine_update_motd(self, &error_local))
 			g_debug("failed to update MOTD: %s", error_local->message);
 	}
+
+	/* update the list of devices */
+	if (!fu_engine_update_devices_file(self, &error))
+		g_debug("failed to update list of devices: %s", error->message);
 }
 
 static void
@@ -6482,6 +6488,7 @@ fu_engine_backend_device_removed_cb(FuBackend *backend, FuDevice *device, FuEngi
 				fu_device_get_name(device_tmp),
 				fu_device_get_id(device_tmp));
 			fu_device_list_remove(self->device_list, device_tmp);
+			fu_engine_emit_changed(self);
 		}
 	}
 }