diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4bbfaea3..3683b6ad 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -51,7 +51,9 @@ jobs:
                 git clone https://github.com/LSSTDESC/skyCatalogs.git
                 cd skyCatalogs
                 git checkout v1.7.0rc4
-                pip install -e .
+                # fix bug specifying version
+                sed -i.bak 's/\.skycatalogs/skycatalogs/' pyproject.toml
+                pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps -e .
                 cd ..
 
             - name: Cache data
diff --git a/doc/install.rst b/doc/install.rst
index 896dae03..20c68bfa 100644
--- a/doc/install.rst
+++ b/doc/install.rst
@@ -155,7 +155,8 @@ Now we are ready to install *imSim*. First go to the directory where you would l
 
    # Install imSim:
    pip install --no-deps imSim/
-   pip install --no-deps skyCatalogs/
+   # turn off build isolation for newer pip
+   pip install --no-build-isolation --no-deps skyCatalogs/
 
 Install *rubin_sim_data*
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@@ -180,6 +181,8 @@ Set runtime environment variables for the *Conda* environment
 
 .. code-block:: sh
 
+    # e.g. if imSim is in ~/git/imSim you would set IMSIM_HOME to ~/git
+    conda env config vars set IMSIM_HOME=/path/to/imSim-git-repo
     conda env config vars set RUBIN_SIM_DATA_DIR=$(pwd)/rubin_sim_data
     conda env config vars set SIMS_SED_LIBRARY_DIR=$(pwd)/rubin_sim_data/sims_sed_library