diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index cc3c8cf7d72773ee87e927f191d5a46fba6ccfbf..a97f03a4bcd7cd667cce02811af8b9fc7537a379 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const deps = @import("./deps.zig");
 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 test_exe = b.addTest(.{
         .root_source_file = b.path("test.zig"),
@@ -12,6 +13,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .optimize = mode,
     });
     deps.addAllTo(test_exe);
+    test_exe.use_llvm = !disable_llvm;
+    test_exe.use_lld = !disable_llvm;
 
     const build_options = b.addOptions();
     build_options.addOption(string, "JSONTestSuite_root", deps.dirs._bebdygynna6k ++ "/test_parsing");