diff --git a/build/builder.go b/build/builder.go
index 7932dcf32..dfbfcf7fa 100644
--- a/build/builder.go
+++ b/build/builder.go
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ type Options struct {
 	changedOrRemovedFiles []string
 
 	LanguageMap ctags.LanguageMap
+
+	// ShardMerging is true if builder should respect compound shards. This is a
+	// Sourcegraph specific option.
+	ShardMerging bool
 }
 
 // HashOptions contains only the options in Options that upon modification leads to IndexState of IndexStateMismatch during the next index building.
@@ -194,6 +198,7 @@ func (o *Options) Flags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 
 	// Sourcegraph specific
 	fs.BoolVar(&o.DisableCTags, "disable_ctags", x.DisableCTags, "If set, ctags will not be called.")
+	fs.BoolVar(&o.ShardMerging, "shard_merging", x.ShardMerging, "If set, builder will respect compound shards.")
 }
 
 // Args generates command line arguments for o. It is the "inverse" of Flags.
@@ -233,6 +238,10 @@ func (o *Options) Args() []string {
 		args = append(args, "-disable_ctags")
 	}
 
+	if o.ShardMerging {
+		args = append(args, "-shard_merging")
+	}
+
 	return args
 }
 
@@ -774,7 +783,7 @@ func (b *Builder) Finish() error {
 
 	for p := range toDelete {
 		// Don't delete compound shards, set tombstones instead.
-		if zoekt.ShardMergingEnabled() && strings.HasPrefix(filepath.Base(p), "compound-") {
+		if b.opts.ShardMerging && strings.HasPrefix(filepath.Base(p), "compound-") {
 			if !strings.HasSuffix(p, ".zoekt") {
 				continue
 			}
diff --git a/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/index.go b/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/index.go
index 39453987d..a07cf29df 100644
--- a/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/index.go
+++ b/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/index.go
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ type indexArgs struct {
 	// DeltaShardNumberFallbackThreshold is an upper limit on the number of preexisting shards that can exist
 	// before attempting a delta build.
 	DeltaShardNumberFallbackThreshold uint64
+
+	// ShardMerging is true if we want zoekt-git-index to respect compound shards.
+	ShardMerging bool
 }
 
 // BuildOptions returns a build.Options represented by indexArgs. Note: it
@@ -131,6 +134,8 @@ func (o *indexArgs) BuildOptions() *build.Options {
 		DocumentRanksVersion: o.DocumentRanksVersion,
 
 		LanguageMap: o.LanguageMap,
+
+		ShardMerging: o.ShardMerging,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/main.go b/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/main.go
index d26ae5ef4..a639894a5 100644
--- a/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/main.go
+++ b/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/main.go
@@ -645,6 +645,8 @@ func (s *Server) indexArgs(opts IndexOptions) *indexArgs {
 
 		// 1 MB; match https://sourcegraph.sgdev.org/github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/-/blob/cmd/symbols/internal/symbols/search.go#L22
 		FileLimit: 1 << 20,
+
+		ShardMerging: s.shardMerging,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -1065,6 +1067,18 @@ func srcLogLevelIsDebug() bool {
 	return strings.EqualFold(lvl, "dbug") || strings.EqualFold(lvl, "debug")
 }
 
+func getEnvWithDefaultBool(k string, defaultVal bool) bool {
+	v := os.Getenv(k)
+	if v == "" {
+		return defaultVal
+	}
+	b, err := strconv.ParseBool(v)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("error parsing ENV %s to int64: %s", k, err)
+	}
+	return b
+}
+
 func getEnvWithDefaultInt64(k string, defaultVal int64) int64 {
 	v := os.Getenv(k)
 	if v == "" {
@@ -1196,12 +1210,12 @@ type rootConfig struct {
 	blockProfileRate int
 
 	// config values related to shard merging
-	vacuumInterval time.Duration
-	mergeInterval  time.Duration
-	targetSize     int64
-	minSize        int64
-	minAgeDays     int
-	maxPriority    float64
+	disableShardMerging bool
+	vacuumInterval      time.Duration
+	mergeInterval       time.Duration
+	targetSize          int64
+	minSize             int64
+	minAgeDays          int
 
 	// config values related to backoff indexing repos with one or more consecutive failures
 	backoffDuration    time.Duration
@@ -1221,12 +1235,12 @@ func (rc *rootConfig) registerRootFlags(fs *flag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.DurationVar(&rc.maxBackoffDuration, "max_backoff_duration", getEnvWithDefaultDuration("MAX_BACKOFF_DURATION", 120*time.Minute), "the maximum duration to backoff from enqueueing a repo for indexing.  A negative value disables indexing backoff.")
 
 	// flags related to shard merging
+	fs.BoolVar(&rc.disableShardMerging, "shard_merging", getEnvWithDefaultBool("SRC_DISABLE_SHARD_MERGING", false), "disable shard merging")
 	fs.DurationVar(&rc.vacuumInterval, "vacuum_interval", getEnvWithDefaultDuration("SRC_VACUUM_INTERVAL", 24*time.Hour), "run vacuum this often")
 	fs.DurationVar(&rc.mergeInterval, "merge_interval", getEnvWithDefaultDuration("SRC_MERGE_INTERVAL", 8*time.Hour), "run merge this often")
 	fs.Int64Var(&rc.targetSize, "merge_target_size", getEnvWithDefaultInt64("SRC_MERGE_TARGET_SIZE", 2000), "the target size of compound shards in MiB")
 	fs.Int64Var(&rc.minSize, "merge_min_size", getEnvWithDefaultInt64("SRC_MERGE_MIN_SIZE", 1800), "the minimum size of a compound shard in MiB")
 	fs.IntVar(&rc.minAgeDays, "merge_min_age", getEnvWithDefaultInt("SRC_MERGE_MIN_AGE", 7), "the time since the last commit in days. Shards with newer commits are excluded from merging.")
-	fs.Float64Var(&rc.maxPriority, "merge_max_priority", getEnvWithDefaultFloat64("SRC_MERGE_MAX_PRIORITY", 100), "the maximum priority a shard can have to be considered for merging.")
 }
 
 func startServer(conf rootConfig) error {
@@ -1428,7 +1442,7 @@ func newServer(conf rootConfig) (*Server, error) {
 		Interval:                          conf.interval,
 		CPUCount:                          cpuCount,
 		queue:                             *q,
-		shardMerging:                      zoekt.ShardMergingEnabled(),
+		shardMerging:                      !conf.disableShardMerging,
 		deltaBuildRepositoriesAllowList:   deltaBuildRepositoriesAllowList,
 		deltaShardNumberFallbackThreshold: deltaShardNumberFallbackThreshold,
 		repositoriesSkipSymbolsCalculationAllowList: reposShouldSkipSymbolsCalculation,
@@ -1439,7 +1453,6 @@ func newServer(conf rootConfig) (*Server, error) {
 			targetSizeBytes: conf.targetSize * 1024 * 1024,
 			minSizeBytes:    conf.minSize * 1024 * 1024,
 			minAgeDays:      conf.minAgeDays,
-			maxPriority:     conf.maxPriority,
 		},
 		timeout: indexingTimeout,
 	}, err
diff --git a/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/merge.go b/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/merge.go
index 40c87fcff..9d3cf8533 100644
--- a/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/merge.go
+++ b/cmd/zoekt-sourcegraph-indexserver/merge.go
@@ -180,9 +180,6 @@ type mergeOpts struct {
 	// merging. For example, a value of 7 means that only repos that have been
 	// inactive for 7 days will be considered for merging.
 	minAgeDays int
-
-	// the MAX priority a shard can have to be considered for merging.
-	maxPriority float64
 }
 
 // isExcluded returns true if a shard should not be merged, false otherwise.
@@ -213,10 +210,6 @@ func isExcluded(path string, fi os.FileInfo, opts mergeOpts) bool {
 		return true
 	}
 
-	if priority, err := strconv.ParseFloat(repos[0].RawConfig["priority"], 64); err == nil && priority > opts.maxPriority {
-		return true
-	}
-
 	return false
 }
 
diff --git a/tombstones.go b/tombstones.go
index 77c3a5bd1..a44eb37b1 100644
--- a/tombstones.go
+++ b/tombstones.go
@@ -5,16 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"strconv"
 )
 
-// ShardMergingEnabled returns true if SRC_ENABLE_SHARD_MERGING is set to true.
-func ShardMergingEnabled() bool {
-	t := os.Getenv("SRC_ENABLE_SHARD_MERGING")
-	enabled, _ := strconv.ParseBool(t)
-	return enabled
-}
-
 var mockRepos []*Repository
 
 // SetTombstone idempotently sets a tombstone for repoName in .meta.