diff --git a/xo-jit/src/jit/CMakeLists.txt b/xo-jit/src/jit/CMakeLists.txt
index c52f7116..a214d04e 100644
--- a/xo-jit/src/jit/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/xo-jit/src/jit/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@ set(SELF_SRCS
 xo_add_shared_library4(${SELF_LIB} ${PROJECT_NAME}Targets ${PROJECT_VERSION} 1 ${SELF_SRCS})
 xo_dependency(${SELF_LIB} xo_expression)
 
-find_package(LLVM REQUIRED CONFIG)
+# llvm {16,17} api will not build without some retro work
+find_package(LLVM 18 REQUIRED CONFIG)
 message(STATUS "Found LLVM ${LLVM_PACKAGE_VERSION}")
 message(STATUS "Using LLVMConfig.cmake in: ${LLVM_DIR}")
 message(STATUS "LLVM_DIR=${LLVM_DIR}")