diff --git a/pixi.toml b/pixi.toml
index 6ec597795e..005a1f1420 100644
--- a/pixi.toml
+++ b/pixi.toml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ libarrow-all = ">=19.0.1,<20"
 # clean xsref dir
 clean-xsref = { cwd = ".", cmd = "rm -rf xsref" }
 # clone xsref
-clone-xsref.cmd = "git clone https://github.com/scipy/xsref.git"
+clone-xsref.cmd = "git clone --depth 1 --branch v0.0.0 https://github.com/scipy/xsref.git"
 clone-xsref.cwd = "."
 clone-xsref.depends-on = ["clean-xsref"]
 # configure cmake for tests