diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 20df6990858e378d00e7af34ddebc93ea6a13e2b..90b04bc146d9b16e294f9e85863ecbce7872a0e4 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const std = @import("std");
 pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
     const mode = b.option(std.builtin.Mode, "mode", "") orelse .Debug;
+    const disable_llvm = b.option(bool, "disable_llvm", "use the non-llvm zig codegen") orelse false;
 
     const exe = b.addExecutable(.{
         .name = "zig-ansi",
@@ -10,6 +11,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .target = target,
         .optimize = mode,
     });
+    exe.use_llvm = !disable_llvm;
+    exe.use_lld = !disable_llvm;
     b.installArtifact(exe);
 
     const run_cmd = b.addRunArtifact(exe);
@@ -26,6 +29,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .target = target,
         .optimize = mode,
     });
+    tests.use_llvm = !disable_llvm;
+    tests.use_lld = !disable_llvm;
 
     const run_test = b.addRunArtifact(tests);
     run_test.has_side_effects = true;