diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 9ef044be..c443041a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ jobs:
           (for DIM in 2 3; do \
             printf "\n-------- Testing ${DIM}D --------\n"; \
             cd ${{runner.workspace}}/build-${DIM}d-${{matrix.os}}-${{matrix.build_type}}-${{matrix.enable_eb}}; \
-            ctest -j ${{env.NPROCS}} ${{matrix.ctest_args}} --output-on-failure; \
+            ctest {{matrix.ctest_args}} --output-on-failure; \
             if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then exit 1; fi \
           done)
   GPU-Nvidia:
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3d8b207d..8b5a5c1d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ option(PELE_ENABLE_HDF5 "Enable plot file output using HDF5" OFF)
 option(PELE_ENABLE_HDF5_ZFP "Enable ZFP compression in HDF5" OFF)
 option(PELE_ENABLE_ASCENT "Enable Ascent in-situ visualization" OFF)
 option(PELE_ENABLE_HYPRE "Enable Offload to Hypre" OFF)
+option(PELE_EXCLUDE_BUILD_IN_CI "Exclude some building when running CI" OFF)
 set(PELE_PRECISION "DOUBLE" CACHE STRING "Floating point precision SINGLE or DOUBLE")
 
 # Physics options