diff --git a/elements/amphora-agent/package-installs.yaml b/elements/amphora-agent/package-installs.yaml
index 94c6d67480..83a8c7ccce 100644
--- a/elements/amphora-agent/package-installs.yaml
+++ b/elements/amphora-agent/package-installs.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+build-essential:
 libffi-dev:
 libssl-dev:
 python-dev: