diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yaml b/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6e65fb9f..00000000
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-name: deploy-docs
-
-# build the documentation whenever there are new commits on main
-on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - main
-    # Alternative: only build for tags.
-    # tags:
-    #   - '*'
-
-# security: restrict permissions for CI jobs.
-permissions:
-  contents: read
-
-jobs:
-  # Build the documentation and upload the static HTML files as an artifact.
-  build:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-        with:
-          python-version: '3.12'
-
-      # ADJUST THIS: install all dependencies (including pdoc)
-      - run: pip install .
-      # ADJUST THIS: build your documentation into docs/.
-      # We use a custom build script for pdoc itself, ideally you just run `pdoc -o docs/ ...` here.
-      - run: pdoc ./romtools -t ./custom-template --math --docformat google -o docs/
-
-      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v2
-        with:
-          path: docs/
-
-  # Deploy the artifact to GitHub pages.
-  # This is a separate job so that only actions/deploy-pages has the necessary permissions.
-  deploy:
-    needs: build
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    permissions:
-      pages: write
-      id-token: write
-    environment:
-      name: github-pages
-      url: ${{ steps.deployment.outputs.page_url }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
-        id: deployment
-        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/install-and-test.yaml b/.github/workflows/install-and-test.yaml
index 92e15133..f6427532 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/install-and-test.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/install-and-test.yaml
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ name: Install and test romtools
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches: [develop]
+    branches:
+      - develop
   pull_request:
-    branches: [develop]
+    branches:
+      - develop
 
 concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.event.repository.name }}-${{ github.ref }}-${{ github.workflow }}
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 8ed06537..594a1fd7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ requires-python = ">=3.8"
 dependencies = [
     'docutils', 'importlib-metadata',
     'numpy', 'scipy', 'matplotlib', 'pdoc',
-    'pytest', 'pytest-mpi>=0.6', 'pytest-timeout'
+    'pytest==7.4.4', 'pytest-mpi>=0.6', 'pytest-timeout'
 ]
+# using pytest>=8.0.0 causes CI failures (likely compatibility issues with pytest-mpi)
 
 [tool.setuptools.dynamic]
 version = {file = "version.txt"}