diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 606e44efc92..deaa9449d06 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1664,6 +1664,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "indexmap",
  "insta",
  "itertools 0.12.1",
+ "jj-cbits",
  "jj-cli",
  "jj-lib",
  "libc",
diff --git a/cli/Cargo.toml b/cli/Cargo.toml
index cb0e83e455d..05f37c83b5c 100644
--- a/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ gix = { workspace = true }
 hex = { workspace = true }
 indexmap = { workspace = true }
 itertools = { workspace = true }
+jj-cbits = { workspace = true }
 jj-lib = { workspace = true }
 maplit = { workspace = true }
 minus = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/cli/src/main.rs b/cli/src/main.rs
index 8b2b2943d8c..38ea1a6870d 100644
--- a/cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/cli/src/main.rs
@@ -12,8 +12,12 @@
 // See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 // limitations under the License.
 
+use jj_cbits::mimalloc::MiMalloc;
 use jj_cli::cli_util::CliRunner;
 
+#[global_allocator]
+static ALLOC: MiMalloc = MiMalloc;
+
 fn main() -> std::process::ExitCode {
     CliRunner::init().version(env!("JJ_VERSION")).run()
 }