diff --git a/.github/workflows/dependencies/dependencies_mac.sh b/.github/workflows/dependencies/dependencies_mac.sh
index 95f5786b..48efd326 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/dependencies/dependencies_mac.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/dependencies/dependencies_mac.sh
@@ -12,3 +12,8 @@ brew install gfortran || true
 brew install libomp || true
 brew install open-mpi || true
 brew install ccache || true
+
+python3 -m venv venv
+source venv/bin/activate
+python3 -m pip install -U pip setuptools wheel pytest
+python3 -m pip install -U cmake
diff --git a/.github/workflows/macos.yml b/.github/workflows/macos.yml
index 24af068a..cfc6d0c5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/macos.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/macos.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ jobs:
              ccache-${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.job }}-git-
     - name: Build & Install
       run: |
+        source venv/bin/activate
+
         export CCACHE_COMPRESS=1
         export CCACHE_COMPRESSLEVEL=10
         export CCACHE_MAXSIZE=600M
@@ -33,8 +35,6 @@ jobs:
 
         export CMAKE_BUILD_PARALLEL_LEVEL=3
 
-        python3 -m pip install -U pip setuptools wheel pytest
-        python3 -m pip install -U cmake
         python3 -m pip install -v .
         python3 -c "import amrex.space1d as amr; print(amr.__version__)"
         python3 -c "import amrex.space2d as amr; print(amr.__version__)"
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Unit tests
       run: |
+        source venv/bin/activate
+
         python3 -m pytest tests/