diff --git a/ci/run.sh b/ci/run.sh
index 5da6bfb8b8..2a98b941b6 100755
--- a/ci/run.sh
+++ b/ci/run.sh
@@ -57,6 +57,13 @@ SRC=`pwd`
 CMAKE_EXTRA="-DLLAMA_FATAL_WARNINGS=${LLAMA_FATAL_WARNINGS:-ON} -DLLAMA_OPENSSL=OFF -DGGML_SCHED_NO_REALLOC=ON"
 CTEST_EXTRA=""
 
+# Default to use make unless specified for compatibility
+CMAKE_GENERATOR=(-G "Unix Makefiles")
+
+if [ -n "${GG_BUILD_NINJA}" ]; then
+    CMAKE_GENERATOR=(-G Ninja)
+fi
+
 if [ ! -z ${GG_BUILD_METAL} ]; then
     CMAKE_EXTRA="${CMAKE_EXTRA} -DGGML_METAL=ON"
 fi
@@ -245,8 +252,8 @@ function gg_run_ctest_debug {
     # Check cmake and ctest are installed
     gg_check_build_requirements
 
-    (time cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
-    (time cmake --build . --config Debug -j$(nproc)        ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
+    (time cmake "${CMAKE_GENERATOR[@]}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
+    (time cmake --build . --config Debug -j$(nproc)) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
 
     (time ctest -C Debug --output-on-failure -L main -E "test-opt|test-backend-ops" ${CTEST_EXTRA}) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-ctest.log
 
@@ -276,8 +283,8 @@ function gg_run_ctest_release {
     # Check cmake and ctest are installed
     gg_check_build_requirements
 
-    (time cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
-    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)        ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
+    (time cmake "${CMAKE_GENERATOR[@]}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
+    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
 
     if [ -z ${GG_BUILD_LOW_PERF} ]; then
         (time ctest -C Release --output-on-failure -L 'main|python' ${CTEST_EXTRA}) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-ctest.log
@@ -407,8 +414,8 @@ function gg_run_qwen3_0_6b {
 
     set -e
 
-    (time cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
-    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)        ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
+    (time cmake "${CMAKE_GENERATOR[@]}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
+    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
 
     python3 ../convert_hf_to_gguf.py ${path_models} --outfile ${path_models}/ggml-model-f16.gguf  --outtype f16
     python3 ../convert_hf_to_gguf.py ${path_models} --outfile ${path_models}/ggml-model-bf16.gguf --outtype bf16
@@ -556,8 +563,8 @@ function gg_run_embd_bge_small {
 
     set -e
 
-    (time cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
-    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)        ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
+    (time cmake "${CMAKE_GENERATOR[@]}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
+    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
 
     python3 ../convert_hf_to_gguf.py ${path_models} --outfile ${path_models}/ggml-model-f16.gguf
 
@@ -601,8 +608,8 @@ function gg_run_rerank_tiny {
 
     set -e
 
-    (time cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
-    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)        ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
+    (time cmake "${CMAKE_GENERATOR[@]}" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ${CMAKE_EXTRA} .. ) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-cmake.log
+    (time cmake --build . --config Release -j$(nproc)) 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT/${ci}-make.log
 
     python3 ../convert_hf_to_gguf.py ${path_models} --outfile ${path_models}/ggml-model-f16.gguf