diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index c8210dd58..d66ff1a8c 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ if not get_option('enable-build')
   subdir_done()
 endif
 
+enable_nix_eval_jobs = get_option('nix-eval-jobs')
 enable_tests = get_option('enable-tests')
 
 tests_args = []
@@ -609,3 +610,11 @@ if enable_tests
 endif
 
 subdir('meson/clang-tidy')
+
+if enable_nix_eval_jobs.enabled()
+  subproject(
+    'nix-eval-jobs',
+    # Well, it was enabled! Surely it's wanted.
+    required : true,
+  )
+endif
diff --git a/meson.options b/meson.options
index 679d88347..81efba8b9 100644
--- a/meson.options
+++ b/meson.options
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ option('internal-api-docs', type : 'feature', value : 'auto',
   description : 'whether to build internal API documentation (requires doxygen)',
 )
 
+option('nix-eval-jobs', type : 'feature', value : 'disabled',
+  description : 'whether to build nix-eval-jobs as part of the Lix build. For development purposes only: do not do packaging with this.',
+)
+
 # A relative path means it gets appended to prefix.
 option('profile-dir', type : 'string', value : 'etc/profile.d',
   description : 'the path to install shell profile files',
diff --git a/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/meson.build b/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/meson.build
index a4eede748..58420f925 100644
--- a/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/meson.build
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ nix_main_dep = dependency('lix-main', required: true)
 nix_store_dep = dependency('lix-store', required: true)
 nix_expr_dep = dependency('lix-expr', required: true)
 nix_cmd_dep = dependency('lix-cmd', required: true)
+nix_util_dep = dependency('lix-util', required: true)
 threads_dep = dependency('threads', required: true)
 nlohmann_json_dep = dependency('nlohmann_json', required: true)
 boost_dep = dependency('boost', required: true)
-kj_async_dep = dependency('kj-async', required: true)
 
 subdir('src')
diff --git a/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/src/meson.build b/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/src/meson.build
index 4ece5923b..fe068955d 100644
--- a/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/src/meson.build
+++ b/subprojects/nix-eval-jobs/src/meson.build
@@ -22,13 +22,14 @@ configure_file(
 
 executable('nix-eval-jobs', src,
            dependencies : [
+             nix_util_dep,
              nix_main_dep,
              nix_store_dep,
              nix_expr_dep,
              nix_cmd_dep,
              boost_dep,
              nlohmann_json_dep,
-             threads_dep
+             threads_dep,
            ],
            install: true,
            cpp_args: ['--include', 'autotools-config.h'])