diff --git a/src/KOKKOS/metatensor_system_kokkos.cpp b/src/KOKKOS/metatensor_system_kokkos.cpp
index 8eccab9c71c..5b5daac72dc 100644
--- a/src/KOKKOS/metatensor_system_kokkos.cpp
+++ b/src/KOKKOS/metatensor_system_kokkos.cpp
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 #include "atom_kokkos.h"
 
 #include <torch/cuda.h>
-#include <chrono>
 
 #ifndef KOKKOS_ENABLE_CUDA
 // fake Kokkos::Cuda for non-CUDA builds
diff --git a/src/KOKKOS/pair_metatensor_kokkos.cpp b/src/KOKKOS/pair_metatensor_kokkos.cpp
index 3fd275f9a5f..611d0529396 100644
--- a/src/KOKKOS/pair_metatensor_kokkos.cpp
+++ b/src/KOKKOS/pair_metatensor_kokkos.cpp
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@
 
 #include "metatensor_system_kokkos.h"
 
-#include <chrono>
+// LAMMPS uses `LAMMPS_NS::tagint` and `int` for tags and neighbor lists, respectively.
+// For the moment, we require both to be int32_t for this interface
+static_assert(std::is_same_v<LAMMPS_NS::tagint, int32_t>, "Error: LAMMPS_NS::tagint must be int32_t to compile metatensor/kk");
+static_assert(std::is_same_v<int, int32_t>, "Error: int must be int32_t to compile metatensor/kk");
 
 #ifndef KOKKOS_ENABLE_CUDA
 namespace Kokkos {