diff --git a/extensions/cxx_debugging/tools/bootstrap.py b/extensions/cxx_debugging/tools/bootstrap.py
index c554eb4ef19..54216599d50 100755
--- a/extensions/cxx_debugging/tools/bootstrap.py
+++ b/extensions/cxx_debugging/tools/bootstrap.py
@@ -190,6 +190,10 @@ def stage2(source_dir, stage1_dir, OPTIONS):
     maybe_cmake(binary_dir, cmake_args, OPTIONS.verbose)
 
     num_cores = os.cpu_count()
+    # HACK: throttle the number of cores to avoid OOM on the CI
+    if os.getenv('CI'):
+        num_cores = min(num_cores, 2)
+
     env = os.environ.copy()
 
     if not OPTIONS.no_check: