diff --git a/pkgs/by-name/wa/watchman/package.nix b/pkgs/by-name/wa/watchman/package.nix
index e713ff947aec..82d5e4e39b9d 100644
--- a/pkgs/by-name/wa/watchman/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/by-name/wa/watchman/package.nix
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 
   gtest,
 
-  stateDir ? "/tmp",
+  stateDir ? "",
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {