diff --git a/.github/workflows/sqlx.yml b/.github/workflows/sqlx.yml
index a7cf763cbe..037dd732fd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sqlx.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sqlx.yml
@@ -167,6 +167,9 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         runtime: [async-std, tokio]
     needs: check
+    env:
+      # Enable tests with SQLCipher
+      RUSTFLAGS: --cfg sqlite_test_sqlcipher
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 9a4dfdf5fe..e765d06371 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -177,7 +177,10 @@ hex = "0.4.3"
 tempfile = "3.9.0"
 criterion = { version = "0.5.1", features = ["async_tokio"] }
 
-# Needed to test SQLCipher
+# If this is an unconditional dev-dependency then Cargo will *always* try to build `libsqlite3-sys`,
+# even when SQLite isn't the intended test target, and fail if the build environment is not set up for compiling C code.
+[target.'cfg(sqlite_test_sqlcipher)'.dev-dependencies]
+# Enable testing with SQLCipher if specifically requested.
 libsqlite3-sys = { version = "0.27", features = ["bundled-sqlcipher"] }
 
 #
diff --git a/tests/sqlite/sqlcipher.rs b/tests/sqlite/sqlcipher.rs
index 5d228619b5..ddcc2397a0 100644
--- a/tests/sqlite/sqlcipher.rs
+++ b/tests/sqlite/sqlcipher.rs
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ async fn it_fails_if_password_is_incorrect() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+#[cfg(sqlite_test_sqlcipher)]
 #[sqlx_macros::test]
 async fn it_honors_order_of_encryption_pragmas() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let (url, _dir) = new_db_url().await?;