diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 560031115..35d3a123e 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -57,10 +57,9 @@ jobs:
       - run: sudo apt update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive sudo apt install -y git ninja-build binutils libtool autoconf automake make gcc g++ pkg-config ragel gtk-doc-tools gobject-introspection libfreetype6-dev libglib2.0-dev libgirepository1.0-dev libcairo2-dev libicu-dev libgraphite2-dev python3 python3-pip
       - run: pip3 install fonttools meson --upgrade
       - run: ./autogen.sh
-      - run: make -j32
       - run: make distcheck
       - run: rm harfbuzz-* && make distdir
-      - run: cd harfbuzz-* && meson build && ninja -Cbuild test
+      - run: cd harfbuzz-* && meson build && ninja -j1 -Cbuild test
       - run: make dist
       - persist_to_workspace:
           root: .