diff --git a/tools/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
index 0ee275b8e..2b2ef5532 100644
--- a/tools/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ include(../cmake/HermitCore-Paths.cmake)
 add_compile_options(-std=c99)
 
 add_executable(proxy proxy.c uhyve.c)
+target_compile_options(proxy PUBLIC -pthread)
 target_link_libraries(proxy -pthread)
 
 install(TARGETS proxy