diff --git a/srcpkgs/foot/template b/srcpkgs/foot/template
index 4f66e4f8e22..59c080a908a 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/foot/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/foot/template
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ license="MIT"
 homepage="https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot"
 distfiles="${homepage}/archive/${version}.tar.gz"
 checksum=7ae523bf9882c0e5d56e2afdf6e25f5f77cffcc78ba1f316ffda3f36e2570b4a
+# attempts to compile before xdg-shell.h is available
+disable_parallel_build=yes
 
 post_install() {
 	vlicense LICENSE