diff --git a/buildbot/buildbot_init.sh b/buildbot/buildbot_init.sh
index ccb9ab30..2a100882 100644
--- a/buildbot/buildbot_init.sh
+++ b/buildbot/buildbot_init.sh
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ wget --quiet https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google/ml-compiler-opt/main/Pipfi
 
 # install the tf pip package for the AOT ("release" scenario).
 sudo -u buildbot python3 -m pip install pipenv
-sudo -u buildbot python3 -m pipenv sync --system
+sudo -u buildbot python3 -m pipenv sync --categories "packages dev-packages" --system
 python3 -m pip install buildbot-worker==2.9.0
 
 TF_PIP=$(sudo -u buildbot python3 -c "import tensorflow as tf; import os; print(os.path.dirname(tf.__file__))")