diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/debugpy/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/debugpy/default.nix
index 583b8a5d5fd5..58bdec7ebc61 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/debugpy/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/debugpy/default.nix
@@ -90,7 +90,13 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     requests
   ];
 
-  preCheck = lib.optionalString (stdenv.isDarwin && stdenv.isAarch64) ''
+  preCheck = ''
+    # Scale default timeouts by a factor of 4 to avoid flaky builds
+    # https://github.com/microsoft/debugpy/pull/1286 if merged would
+    # allow us to disable the timeouts altogether
+    export DEBUGPY_PROCESS_SPAWN_TIMEOUT=60
+    export DEBUGPY_PROCESS_EXIT_TIMEOUT=20
+  '' + lib.optionalString (stdenv.isDarwin && stdenv.isAarch64) ''
     # https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/74570#issuecomment-1093748531
     export no_proxy='*';
   '';