diff --git a/src/threading.c b/src/threading.c
index 577a603d0ae850..492dd4fa9d232a 100644
--- a/src/threading.c
+++ b/src/threading.c
@@ -603,7 +603,9 @@ void jl_init_threading(void)
     jl_n_threadpools = 1;
     int16_t nthreads = JULIA_NUM_THREADS;
     int16_t nthreadsi = 0;
-    int8_t ngcthreads = jl_options.ngcthreads;
+    // XXX: hack to run CI with 4 threads. Remove later
+    int8_t ngcthreads = 4;
+    // int8_t ngcthreads = jl_options.ngcthreads;
     char *endptr, *endptri;
 
     if (jl_options.nthreads != 0) { // --threads specified