diff --git a/flake/dev/tests.nix b/flake/dev/tests.nix
index 1067ca7a..70c77dd4 100644
--- a/flake/dev/tests.nix
+++ b/flake/dev/tests.nix
@@ -7,8 +7,15 @@
   perSystem =
     { pkgs, ... }:
     {
+      # TODO: consider whether all these tests are needed in the `checks` output
       checks = pkgs.callPackages ../../tests {
         inherit helpers self;
       };
+
+      # TODO: consider whether all these tests are needed to be built by buildbot
+      ci.buildbot = pkgs.callPackages ../../tests {
+        inherit helpers self;
+        allSystems = false;
+      };
     };
 }
diff --git a/tests/default.nix b/tests/default.nix
index d2a3ff6b..bf730078 100644
--- a/tests/default.nix
+++ b/tests/default.nix
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   linkFarm,
   self, # The flake instance
   system ? pkgs.stdenv.hostPlatform.system,
+  allSystems ? true,
 }:
 let
   autoArgs = pkgs // {
@@ -31,8 +32,15 @@ let
   callTests = lib.callPackagesWith autoArgs;
 
   selfPackages = self.packages.${system};
+
+  # For tests that CI should only build on one system,
+  # This is true when on that system.
+  #
+  # TODO: consider refactoring tests/default.nix so that some tests are
+  # defined by it, while others are defined elsewhere...
+  buildForThisSystem = allSystems || system == "x86_64-linux";
 in
-{
+lib.optionalAttrs buildForThisSystem {
   extra-args-tests = callTest ./extra-args.nix { };
   extend = callTest ./extend.nix { };
   extra-files = callTest ./extra-files.nix { };
@@ -47,10 +55,12 @@ in
   lsp-all-servers = callTest ./lsp-servers.nix { };
 }
 # Expose some tests from the docs as flake-checks too
-// lib.optionalAttrs (selfPackages ? docs) {
+// lib.optionalAttrs (selfPackages ? docs && buildForThisSystem) {
   # Individual tests can be run using: nix build .#docs.user-configs.tests.<test>
   docs-user-configs = linkFarm "user-configs-tests" selfPackages.docs.user-configs.tests;
 }
+
+# These are always built on all systems, even when `allSystems = false`
 // callTests ./platforms { }
 # Tests generated from ./test-sources
 # Grouped as a number of link-farms in the form { test-1, test-2, ... test-N }