diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 1441ddc..4030430 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -5,10 +5,13 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
     const target = b.standardTargetOptions(.{});
     const optimize = b.standardOptimizeOption(.{});
 
-    // Create options module for tracing
+    // Create options module for conditional compilation
     const executionTracing = b.option(bool, "tracing", "enable execution tracing") orelse false;
+    const json_serialization = b.option(bool, "json", "enable JSON serialization of the compiler outputs") orelse false;
+
     const options = b.addOptions();
     options.addOption(bool, "tracing", executionTracing);
+    options.addOption(bool, "json", json_serialization);
 
     // Create the options module that will be shared
     const options_module = options.createModule();
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index ae2e565..a8a7e52 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ const errors = @import("errors");
 
 const cli = @import("cli.zig");
 
-const tracing = @import("config").tracing;
+const config = @import("config");
+const tracing = config.tracing;
+const json = config.json;
 
 const thp_version: []const u8 = "0.0.1";
 
@@ -18,12 +20,16 @@ fn repl() !void {
     var args = std.process.args();
     defer args.deinit();
 
+    // If compiling for JSON serialization, enable the binary `lex` command
+
     // ignore executable
     _ = args.next();
     if (args.next()) |arg| {
-        if (std.mem.eql(u8, "lex", arg)) {
-            try cli.tokenize_to_json();
-            return;
+        if (json) {
+            if (std.mem.eql(u8, "lex", arg)) {
+                try cli.tokenize_to_json();
+                return;
+            }
         }
     }