diff --git a/tools/precommit/entrypoint.sh b/tools/precommit/entrypoint.sh
index e40a1c65aa..50fe67f43b 100755
--- a/tools/precommit/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/tools/precommit/entrypoint.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ else
     git --no-pager log -1 --pretty='%nCommitSHA: %H%nCommitTime: %ci%nCommitAuthor: %an%nCommitSubject: %s%n'
     echo -e "\n========== Running Precommit Checks =========="
     export CP2K_PRECOMMIT_SERVER="http://127.0.0.1:8080"
-    ./tools/precommit/precommit.py --no-cache --progressbar-wait=10  || true
+    ./tools/precommit/precommit.py --no-cache --progressbar-wait=10 -j 4 || true
 fi
 
 #EOF
diff --git a/tools/precommit/precommit.py b/tools/precommit/precommit.py
index 0148aa9af5..47cda35c13 100755
--- a/tools/precommit/precommit.py
+++ b/tools/precommit/precommit.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def main():
         "-j",
         "--num_workers",
         type=int,
-        default=min(32, os.cpu_count() + 4),  # copied from ThreadPoolExecutor
+        default=min(16, os.cpu_count() + 2),
         help="number of parallel workers",
     )
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ def run_analyze_src(fn):
 
 
 # ======================================================================================
-def run_local_tool(*cmd, timeout=10):
+def run_local_tool(*cmd, timeout=20):
     p = subprocess.run(cmd, timeout=timeout, stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT)
     if p.returncode != 0:
         raise Exception(p.stdout.decode("utf8"))