diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 07c7fd6f..ccb22508 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
     if: github.event_name != 'schedule'
 
   test-conda:
-    needs: [ test-pip ]
+    needs: [ pre-commit ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/step_tests-conda.yml
     with:
       coverage: ${{ github.event_name != 'schedule' }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
similarity index 55%
rename from .github/workflows/release.yml
rename to .github/workflows/publish.yml
index 81ffc0e3..0a65697f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -1,20 +1,10 @@
-name: Release
+name: Publish
 on:
   push:
     tags:
       - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+"
       - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+rc[0-9]+"
       - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+dev[0-9]+"
-  workflow_dispatch:
-    inputs:
-      skip-tests:
-        type: boolean
-        description: Skip
-        default: false
-      ref:
-        type: string
-        description: Tag to release
-        required: true
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -22,26 +12,22 @@ permissions:
 jobs:
   pre-commit:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/step_pre-commit.yml
-    if: "! inputs.skip-tests"
 
   test-pip:
     needs: [ pre-commit ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/step_tests-pip.yml
     with:
       coverage: false
-    if: "! inputs.skip-tests"
 
   test-conda:
-    needs: [ test-pip ]
+    needs: [ pre-commit ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/step_tests-conda.yml
     with:
       coverage: false
-    if: "! inputs.skip-tests"
 
   test-ui:
     needs: [ test-pip ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/step_tests-ui.yml
-    if: "! inputs.skip-tests"
 
   test-status:
     needs: [ pre-commit, test-pip, test-conda, test-ui ]
@@ -56,9 +42,6 @@ jobs:
   build:
     needs: [ test-status ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/step_build.yml
-    with:
-      upload: true
-      ref: ${{ inputs.ref }}
 
   publish:
     needs: [ build ]
@@ -73,24 +56,16 @@ jobs:
       id-token: write
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
-        with:
-          name: dist
-          path: dist
+      - name: Checkout source
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Base Setup
+        uses: jupyterlab/maintainer-tools/.github/actions/base-setup@v1
+
+      - name: Build package
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install wheel build
+          python -m build
+
       - name: Publish
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
-
-  release:
-    needs: [ publish ]
-    name: Create release
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ inputs.ref }}
-      - uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          name: Jupytext ${{ inputs.ref || github.ref_name }}
-          draft: true
-          prerelease: ${{ contains(inputs.ref || github.ref, 'rc') }}
-          generate_release_notes: true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/step_build.yml b/.github/workflows/step_build.yml
index 8ee9106e..910acfba 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/step_build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/step_build.yml
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Checkout source
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ inputs.ref }}
 
       - name: Base Setup
         uses: jupyterlab/maintainer-tools/.github/actions/base-setup@v1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/step_tests-pip.yml b/.github/workflows/step_tests-pip.yml
index eb3ccb52..214be7a9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/step_tests-pip.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/step_tests-pip.yml
@@ -17,24 +17,27 @@ jobs:
     name: >
       🐍 ${{ matrix.python-version }}
       ${{ matrix.dependency_type && format('({0})', matrix.dependency_type) }}
-      ${{ matrix.markdown-it-py && format('(markdown-it-py {0})', matrix.markdown-it-py) }}
       ${{ matrix.quarto && '(Quarto)' }}
       ${{ matrix.no_kernel && '(No kernel)' }}
+      ${{ matrix.markdown-it-py && format('(markdown-it-py {0})', matrix.markdown-it-py) }}
+      ${{ matrix.no_markdown-it-py && '(No markdown-it-py)'}}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         python-version: [ "3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
+        experimental: [false]
         include:
           # Test pre-release versions
           - python-version: "3.x"
             dependency_type: "pre"
+            experimental: true  # fails with pytest-8.0.0rc1
           # Test minimum markdown-it-py supported (otherwise the most recent version is used)
           - python-version: "3.x"
             markdown-it-py: "~=2.0"
           - python-version: "3.x"
-            markdown-it-py: false
+            no_markdown-it-py: true
           - python-version: "3.x"
             no_kernel: true
           - python-version: "3.x"
@@ -55,15 +58,16 @@ jobs:
           python -m pip install
           -e '.[test-cov,test-external]'
           jupyterlab
-          ${{ matrix.markdown-it-py && format('markdown-it-py{0}', matrix.markdown-it-py) || '' }}
+          ${{ format('markdown-it-py{0}', matrix.markdown-it-py) }}
 
       - name: Install a Jupyter Kernel
         if: ${{ !matrix.no_kernel }}
         run: python -m ipykernel install --name python_kernel --user
+
       - name: Uninstall markdown-it-py
         # Markdown-it-py is a dependency of Jupytext,
         # but Jupytext should still work if it is not installed
-        if: ${{ matrix.markdown-it-py == 'false' }}
+        if: ${{ matrix.no_markdown-it-py }}
         run: python -m pip uninstall markdown-it-py --yes
 
       - name: Install Quarto
@@ -84,6 +88,7 @@ jobs:
           python -m jupyterlab.browser_check
 
       - name: Test with pytest
+        continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.experimental }}
         run: pytest -n logical --cov --cov-report=xml
 
       - name: Upload coverage
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 400eb957..3196a78f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 Jupytext ChangeLog
 ==================
 
+1.16.1-dev (2024-01-??)
+-------------------
+
+**Changed**
+- The CI was updated. Thanks to [Christian Le](https://github.com/LecrisUT) for taking care of this! ([#1190](https://github.com/mwouts/jupytext/issues/1190), [#1204](https://github.com/mwouts/jupytext/issues/1204))
+
+
 1.16.0 (2023-12-03)
 -------------------
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index ddd60caf..6d61197d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ classifiers = [
 dependencies = [
     "nbformat",
     "mdit-py-plugins",
-    "markdown-it-py>=2.0",
+    "markdown-it-py>=1.0",
     "packaging",
     "pyyaml",
     "toml",
diff --git a/src/jupytext/version.py b/src/jupytext/version.py
index 7a11a260..f9e54cb1 100644
--- a/src/jupytext/version.py
+++ b/src/jupytext/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """Jupytext's version number"""
 
-__version__ = "1.16.0"
+__version__ = "1.16.1-dev"