diff --git a/src/tint/cmd/BUILD.gn b/src/tint/cmd/BUILD.gn
index ab0c964832..e9188cf8ef 100644
--- a/src/tint/cmd/BUILD.gn
+++ b/src/tint/cmd/BUILD.gn
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ source_set("tint_cmd_helper") {
     "helper.h",
   ]
 
-  deps = [
-    "${tint_root_dir}/src/tint:libtint",
-    "${tint_spirv_tools_dir}/:spvtools_headers",
-  ]
+  deps = [ "${tint_root_dir}/src/tint:libtint" ]
+  if (tint_build_spv_writer) {
+    deps += [ "${tint_spirv_tools_dir}/:spvtools_headers" ]
+  }
 }
 
 executable("tint") {