diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 1e9b01889..7422479b5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
     # Cross-compile the binary. We always use static building for this
     # because its the only way to access the headers.
     - name: Test Build
-      run: nix develop -c zig build -Dstatic=true -Dtarget=${{ matrix.target }}
+      run: nix develop -c zig build -fstage1 -Dstatic=true -Dtarget=${{ matrix.target }}
 
   test:
     strategy:
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ jobs:
         nix_path: nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable
 
     - name: test
-      run: nix develop -c zig build test
+      run: nix develop -c zig build test -fstage1
 
     - name: Test Dynamic Build
-      run: nix develop -c zig build -Dstatic=false
+      run: nix develop -c zig build -fstage1 -Dstatic=false
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e36a844dd..b075cc164 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ init:
 
 # Slightly cursed way that we setup a dev version of this locally on NixOS.
 dev/install:
-	zig build -Dcpu=baseline -Drelease-fast
+	zig build -fstage1 -Dcpu=baseline -Drelease-fast
 	if [ -f "/etc/NIXOS" ]; then patchelf --set-rpath "${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}" zig-out/bin/ghostty; fi
 	mkdir -p ${HOME}/bin
 	cp zig-out/bin/ghostty ${HOME}/bin/devtty
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ab52a8ab6..75a5a3a56 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -75,12 +75,16 @@ on the [Zig downloads page](https://ziglang.org/download/).
 With Zig installed, a binary can be built using `zig build`:
 
 ```shell-session
-$ zig build
+$ zig build -fstage1
 ...
 
 $ zig-out/bin/ghostty
 ```
 
+**Important: you must specify the `-fstage1` flag.** Ghostty can't yet be
+built with the self-hosted Zig backend, so we have to use "stage1" (the
+C++ LLVM backend).
+
 This will build a binary for the currently running system (if supported).
 You can cross compile by setting `-Dtarget=<target-triple>`. For example,
 `zig build -Dtarget=aarch64-macos` will build for Apple Silicon macOS. Note
diff --git a/flake.lock b/flake.lock
index 650ef8d08..092e5053c 100644
--- a/flake.lock
+++ b/flake.lock
@@ -109,11 +109,11 @@
         "nixpkgs": "nixpkgs_2"
       },
       "locked": {
-        "lastModified": 1662000959,
-        "narHash": "sha256-2wW8/BWusCtDYiHkF4/o4Se16qc/EbtMsZuQspTW4lY=",
+        "lastModified": 1662668669,
+        "narHash": "sha256-91R5xjCt1cLJBbYygtiQwXCex596/2cxsTneKUdnVwc=",
         "owner": "mitchellh",
         "repo": "zig-overlay",
-        "rev": "9c8e4148bdc806397900cb95c7d2b3f844ac7aff",
+        "rev": "6ed17531becf61347f4f30b62ad22d21e14fc4da",
         "type": "github"
       },
       "original": {
diff --git a/nix/overlay.nix b/nix/overlay.nix
index ec5c2c9d6..c3f77e273 100644
--- a/nix/overlay.nix
+++ b/nix/overlay.nix
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ final: prev: rec {
   wraptest = prev.callPackage ./wraptest.nix { };
 
   # zig we want to be the latest nightly since 0.9.0 is not released yet.
-  # NOTE: we are pinned to this master version because it broke at a certain
-  # point due to the self-hosted compiler. We'll fix this ASAP.
-  #zig = final.zigpkgs.master;
-  zig = final.zigpkgs.master-2022-08-19;
+  zig = final.zigpkgs.master;
+
+  # last known working stage1 build, the rest in the future are stage3
+  #zig = final.zigpkgs.master-2022-08-19;
 }