diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 1fd32f88738934575276b17d46f822a4deb03b37..c86f61be61e7f93648a86e2472d954dabfe89b0a 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ 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 exe = b.addExecutable(.{
         .name = "zig-leven",
@@ -12,6 +13,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .optimize = mode,
     });
     deps.addAllTo(exe);
+    exe.use_llvm = !disable_llvm;
+    exe.use_lld = !disable_llvm;
     b.installArtifact(exe);
 
     const run_cmd = b.addRunArtifact(exe);
@@ -28,6 +31,8 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
         .target = target,
         .optimize = mode,
     });
+    tests.use_llvm = !disable_llvm;
+    tests.use_lld = !disable_llvm;
     deps.addAllTo(tests);
 
     const test_step = b.step("test", "Run all library tests");