diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index b54a6ec09..2f7ad8e79 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -50,6 +50,43 @@ jobs:
       - store_artifacts:
           path: /home/circleci/repo/build/
 
+  build-test-minimal:
+    <<: *defaults
+    steps:
+      - checkout
+
+      - run:
+          name: lint
+          command: |
+            make lint
+
+      # this cache is generated by the main build job, we never store it here
+      - restore_cache:
+          keys:
+          - v1-emsdk-{{ checksum "emsdk/Makefile" }}-v14-
+
+      - run:
+          name: build
+          no_output_timeout: 1200
+          command: |
+            ccache -z
+            PYODIDE_PACKAGES='micropip' make
+            ccache -s
+
+      - run:
+          name: check-size
+          command: ls -lh build/
+
+      - run:
+          name: test
+          command: |
+            export PYODIDE_PACKAGES='micropip'
+            # only check common tests, all other are checked in the main test jobs
+            pytest test/test_common.py -v -k firefox
+
+      - store_artifacts:
+          path: /home/circleci/repo/build/
+
   test-firefox:
     <<: *defaults
     steps:
@@ -140,6 +177,7 @@ workflows:
           filters:
             tags:
               only: /.*/
+      - build-test-minimal
       - test-chrome:
           requires:
             - build
diff --git a/docs/building_from_sources.md b/docs/building_from_sources.md
index 425c3aca9..45bdc71b6 100644
--- a/docs/building_from_sources.md
+++ b/docs/building_from_sources.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ To install Pyodide from sources follow the steps in the
 
 ## Partial builds
 
-To build a subset of available packages in pyodide, set the environement
+To build a subset of available packages in pyodide, set the environment
 variable `PYODIDE_PACKAGES` to a comma separated list of packages. For
 instance,
 
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ instance,
 PYODIDE_PACKAGES="toolz,attrs" make
 ```
 
-Note that this environement variables must contain both the packages and their
+Note that this environment variables must contain both the packages and their
 dependencies. The package names must much the folder names in `packages/`
 exactly; in particular they are case sensitive.
+
+To build a minimal version of pyodide, set `PYODIDE_PACKAGES="micropip"`. The
+micropip package is generally always included for any non empty value of
+`PYODIDE_PACKAGES`.
diff --git a/pyodide_build/common.py b/pyodide_build/common.py
index eef9722f7..3cbbb361d 100644
--- a/pyodide_build/common.py
+++ b/pyodide_build/common.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ def parse_package(package):
 def _parse_package_subset(query: str) -> Optional[List[str]]:
     """Parse the list of packages specified with PYODIDE_PACKAGES env var.
 
-    Also add the list of mandatory packages: ['micropip']
+    Also add the list of mandatory packages: ['micropip', 'distlib']
 
     Returns:
       a list of package names to build, or None if all packages should be
@@ -41,5 +41,5 @@ def _parse_package_subset(query: str) -> Optional[List[str]]:
         return None
     packages = query.split(',')
     packages = [el.strip() for el in packages]
-    return ['micropip'] + packages
+    return ['micropip', 'distlib'] + packages
 
diff --git a/test/test_common.py b/test/test_common.py
index 980051da1..4b95a94b5 100644
--- a/test/test_common.py
+++ b/test/test_common.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import pytest
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
-from pyodide_build.common import parse_package
+from pyodide_build.common import parse_package, _parse_package_subset
 
 BASE_DIR = Path(__file__).parent.parent
 PKG_DIR = BASE_DIR / 'packages'
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ def test_import(name, selenium_standalone):
                 '{} fails to load and is not supported on {}.'
                 .format(name, selenium_standalone.browser))
 
+    built_packages = os.environ.get('PYODIDE_PACKAGES', "")
+    # only a subset of packages were built
+    if built_packages is not None and name not in built_packages:
+        pytest.skip(f'{name} was skipped due to PYODIDE_PACKAGES')
+
     selenium_standalone.run("import glob, os")
 
     baseline_pyc = selenium_standalone.run(