diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index dff35dd5..5727a4f2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: ['3.12']
+        python-version: ['3.11']
 
     steps:
     - name: Check out repository
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 710eced7..a0961f02 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -101,8 +101,12 @@ description =
 
 [testenv:migrate]
 extras = test,migrate
-deps = pytest-console-scripts
+deps =
+    setuptools>=65.5.0
+    wheel
+    pytest-console-scripts
 commands =
+    pip install setuptools>=65.5.0 wheel  # to ensure distutils is there in python 3.12
     # install an old pyabc version
     pip install pyabc==0.10.13 numpy==1.23.5 pandas==1.5.0 sqlalchemy==1.4.48
     python test/migrate/create_test_db.py