diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 4f743d382dd2914dd9e75495edd28eb32f99df0f..0b92690590f24f71cc810ffb77bab5db4b09828f 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@ const deps = @import("./deps.zig");
 
 pub fn build(b: *std.build.Builder) void {
     const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
-    const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});
+    const mode = b.option(std.builtin.Mode, "mode", "") orelse .Debug;
     const use_full_name = b.option(bool, "use-full-name", "") orelse false;
     const with_arch_os = b.fmt("-{s}-{s}", .{ @tagName(target.cpu_arch orelse builtin.cpu.arch), @tagName(target.os_tag orelse builtin.os.tag) });
     const exe_name = b.fmt("{s}{s}", .{ "zigmod", if (use_full_name) with_arch_os else "" });
-    const exe = b.addExecutable(.{ .name = exe_name, .root_source_file = .{ .path = "src/main.zig" }, .target = target, .optimize = optimize });
+    const exe = b.addExecutable(.{ .name = exe_name, .root_source_file = .{ .path = "src/main.zig" }, .target = target, .optimize = mode });
 
     const exe_options = b.addOptions();
     exe.addOptions("build_options", exe_options);