diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c5c0de02d..6d0ba2af8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ cmake_dependent_option(
 )
 option(USE_DOXYGEN "Build HTML cross reference with doxygen" OFF)
 option(USE_PANDOC "Build man pages and HTML reference with pandoc" ON)
+option(USE_POC "Build small, uninstalled proof-of-concept binaries" ON)
 option(USE_QRCODEGEN "Disable libqrcodegen QR code support" ON)
 option(USE_STATIC "Build static libraries (in addition to shared)" ON)
 set(USE_MULTIMEDIA "ffmpeg" CACHE STRING "Multimedia engine, one of 'ffmpeg', 'oiio', or 'none'")
@@ -381,6 +382,7 @@ target_link_libraries(notcurses-demo
 )
 
 # tiny proofs of concept, one binary per source file
+if(USE_POC)
 file(GLOB POCSRCS CONFIGURE_DEPENDS src/poc/*.c src/poc/*.cpp)
 foreach(f ${POCSRCS})
   get_filename_component(fe "${f}" NAME_WE)
@@ -396,6 +398,7 @@ foreach(f ${POCSRCS})
     PRIVATE "${TERMINFO_LIBRARY_DIRS}"
   )
 endforeach()
+endif()
 
 # Pandoc documentation (man pages, HTML reference)
 if(USE_PANDOC)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c8dfdfba0..5a23957fa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -160,13 +160,14 @@ but must be `Debug` for use of `USE_COVERAGE`.
 * `DFSG_BUILD`: leave out all content considered non-free under the Debian Free
                 Software Guidelines
 * `BUILD_TESTING`: build test targets
-* `USE_DOCTEST`: build `notcurses-tester` with Doctest, requires `BUILD_TESTING`
-* `USE_MULTIMEDIA`: `ffmpeg` for FFmpeg, `oiio` for OpenImageIO, `none` for none
-* `USE_QRCODEGEN`: build qrcode support via libqrcodegen
-* `USE_PANDOC`: build man pages with pandoc
-* `USE_DOXYGEN`: build interlinked HTML documentation with Doxygen
-* `USE_STATIC`: build static libraries (in addition to shared ones)
 * `USE_COVERAGE`: build coverage support (for developers, requires use of Clang)
+* `USE_DOCTEST`: build `notcurses-tester` with Doctest, requires `BUILD_TESTING`
+* `USE_DOXYGEN`: build interlinked HTML documentation with Doxygen
+* `USE_MULTIMEDIA`: `ffmpeg` for FFmpeg, `oiio` for OpenImageIO, `none` for none
+* `USE_PANDOC`: build man pages with pandoc
+* `USE_POC`: build small, uninstalled proof-of-concept binaries
+* `USE_QRCODEGEN`: build qrcode support via libqrcodegen
+* `USE_STATIC`: build static libraries (in addition to shared ones)
 
 ## Included tools