diff --git a/common/meson.build b/common/meson.build
index 8561d6cf0..c653dd721 100644
--- a/common/meson.build
+++ b/common/meson.build
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ lib_sway_common = static_library(
 		cairo,
 		gdk_pixbuf,
 		pango,
-		pangocairo
+		pangocairo,
+		wayland_client.partial_dependency(compile_args: true)
 	],
 	include_directories: sway_inc
 )