diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
index 938e0040..85c0a63c 100644
--- a/config.yaml
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@ electricity:
   conventional_carriers: [nuclear, oil, OCGT, CCGT, coal, lignite, geothermal, biomass]
 
 atlite:
-  cutout_directory: 'cutouts'
-  nprocesses: 1
+  nprocesses: 4
   cutouts:
     europe-2013-era5:
       module: era5
diff --git a/scripts/build_cutout.py b/scripts/build_cutout.py
index 49ff3357..f64db0e6 100644
--- a/scripts/build_cutout.py
+++ b/scripts/build_cutout.py
@@ -5,8 +5,13 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 logging.basicConfig(level=snakemake.config['logging_level'])
 
+cutout_params = snakemake.config['atlite']['cutouts'][snakemake.wildcards.cutout]
+for p in ('xs', 'ys', 'years', 'months'):
+    if p in cutout_params:
+        cutout_params[p] = slice(*cutout_params[p])
+
 cutout = atlite.Cutout(snakemake.wildcards.cutout,
-                       cutout_dir=os.path.dirname(snakemake.output.cutout),
-                       **snakemake.config['atlite']['cutouts'][snakemake.wildcards.cutout])
+                       cutout_dir=os.path.dirname(snakemake.output[0]),
+                       **cutout_params)
 
 cutout.prepare(nprocesses=snakemake.config['atlite'].get('nprocesses', 4))