diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index 78a943c0..066559ef 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -271,9 +271,19 @@ static void cc1(void) {
 
   Obj *prog = parse(tok);
 
+  // Open a temporary output buffer.
+  char *buf;
+  size_t buflen;
+  FILE *output_buf = open_memstream(&buf, &buflen);
+
   // Traverse the AST to emit assembly.
+  codegen(prog, output_buf);
+  fclose(output_buf);
+
+  // Write the asembly text to a file.
   FILE *out = open_file(output_file);
-  codegen(prog, out);
+  fwrite(buf, buflen, 1, out);
+  fclose(out);
 }
 
 static void assemble(char *input, char *output) {