diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ch/cheating-daddy/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ch/cheating-daddy/package.nix
index eaebe9439954..8e5a93b24519 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ch/cheating-daddy/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ch/cheating-daddy/package.nix
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ buildNpmPackage (finalAttrs: {
     ONNXRUNTIME_NODE_INSTALL = "skip";
     ONNXRUNTIME_NODE_INSTALL_CUDA = "skip";
     ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD = "1";
+    # electron-forge's console output is squeezed into one narrow column if unset
+    CI = "1";
   };
 
   makeCacheWritable = true;
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/ka/kando/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/ka/kando/package.nix
index d4963a5d5eeb..f6f4b5789982 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/ka/kando/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/ka/kando/package.nix
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ buildNpmPackage.override { inherit nodejs; } rec {
     ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD = "1";
     # use our own node headers since we skip downloading them
     NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-I${nodejs}/include/node";
+    # electron-forge's console output is squeezed into one narrow column if unset
+    CI = "1";
   };
 
   postConfigure = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/lo/logseq/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/lo/logseq/package.nix
index 54f2e17a7f9b..afa72b7ece9d 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/lo/logseq/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/lo/logseq/package.nix
@@ -244,6 +244,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     cp -r static/node_modules resources/node_modules
   '';
 
+  # electron-forge's console output is squeezed into one narrow column if unset
+  env.CI = "1";
+
   yarnBuildScript = "release-electron";
 
   installPhase = ''
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/rs/rstudio/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/rs/rstudio/package.nix
index c0f40c003651..712c82014729 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/rs/rstudio/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/rs/rstudio/package.nix
@@ -191,6 +191,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   env = {
     ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD = "1";
 
+    # electron-forge's console output is squeezed into one narrow column if unset
+    CI = "1";
+
     # on Darwin, cmake uses find_library to locate R instead of using the PATH
     NIX_LDFLAGS = "-L${R}/lib/R/lib";
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/st/stoat-desktop/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/st/stoat-desktop/package.nix
index d7a4998172b7..f2cb193acdbf 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/st/stoat-desktop/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/st/stoat-desktop/package.nix
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
 
   env.ELECTRON_SKIP_BINARY_DOWNLOAD = "1";
 
+  # electron-forge's console output is squeezed into one narrow column if unset
+  env.CI = "1";
+
   buildPhase = ''
     runHook preBuild
 
diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/yt/ytmdesktop/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/yt/ytmdesktop/package.nix
index 84ef3a767a3d..87ed83644327 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/yt/ytmdesktop/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/yt/ytmdesktop/package.nix
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     substituteInPlace node_modules/@electron/packager/dist/packager.js \
       --replace-fail 'await this.getElectronZipPath(downloadOpts)' '"electron.zip"'
 
+    # electron-forge's console output is squeezed into one narrow column if unset
+    export CI="1";
+
     yarn run package
 
     runHook postBuild