diff --git a/pkgs/applications/window-managers/i3/gaps.nix b/pkgs/applications/window-managers/i3/gaps.nix
index 3d8067f1882..f3472be7a72 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/window-managers/i3/gaps.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/window-managers/i3/gaps.nix
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ i3.overrideDerivation (super : rec {
       echo -n "${version} (${releaseDate})" > ./i3-${version}/I3_VERSION
   '';
 
+  # fatal error: GENERATED_config_enums.h: No such file or directory
+  enableParallelBuilding = false;
 }) // {
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {