diff --git a/.flake8 b/.flake8
index 84252c8..6a52551 100644
--- a/.flake8
+++ b/.flake8
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 [flake8]
-extend-exclude = _skbuild/,siliconcompiler/
+extend-exclude = _skbuild/,siliconcompiler/,.venv/
 max-line-length = 100
 ignore =
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint.yml b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
index 7295db6..a5bc326 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
@@ -26,5 +26,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Lint with Flake8
         run: |
-          python -m pip install flake8 -c ./requirements.txt
+          python3 -m venv .venv
+          . .venv/bin/activate
+
+          python3 -m pip install flake8 -c ./requirements.txt
           flake8 --statistics .
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 1b56ede..b61e320 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -42,6 +42,14 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Run Python tests
         run: |
+          python3 -m venv .venv
+          . .venv/bin/activate
+
           python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
           python3 -m pip install .[test]
-          pytest
+
+          # change running directory
+          mkdir testrun
+          cd testrun
+
+          pytest $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
diff --git a/conftest.py b/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b84b5a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+collect_ignore = [
+    "siliconcompiler/",
+    "_skbuild/"
+]
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 48eb903..26bc864 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -10,5 +10,10 @@ requires = [
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
-testpaths = "tests"
+testpaths = [
+    "tests"
+]
 timeout = "120"
+addopts = [
+    "--import-mode=importlib",
+]
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index a0f170c..98ea958 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -2,13 +2,6 @@
 import os
 
 
-@pytest.fixture
-def scroot():
-    '''Returns an absolute path to the SC root directory.'''
-    mydir = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-    return os.path.abspath(os.path.join(mydir, '..', 'siliconcompiler'))
-
-
 @pytest.fixture
 def datadir(request):
     '''Returns an absolute path to the current test directory's local data