diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index b43e59c169..ca38edd54b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           ghcup install ghc ${{ matrix.ghc }}
           ghcup set ghc ${{ matrix.ghc }}
+      - name: Copy cabal.project
+        run: |
+          cp cabal.project.non-nix cabal.project
       - name: Cache
         uses: actions/cache@v3
         with:
diff --git a/cabal.project b/cabal.project.non-nix
similarity index 53%
rename from cabal.project
rename to cabal.project.non-nix
index 3c8090fb2a..42c498251f 100644
--- a/cabal.project
+++ b/cabal.project.non-nix
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# Setting to allow building with plain cabal. If this was
+# named just cabal.project, it would interfere with the default
+# nix build.
+
 packages: .
 
 source-repository-package