diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index d7d4665ac..35e020ab6 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ include doc/DoxygenLayout.xml
 include doc/*.txt
 include doc/*.py
 recursive-include ext *
-recursive-include test *
 recursive-include tools *
 recursive-include bin *
 recursive-include src *
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index dedba2b79..92ea4009d 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -38,6 +38,10 @@ omit =
     # Omit generated versioneer
     forcebalance/_version.py
 
+# Do not descend into some directories for tests
+[tool:pytest]
+norecursedirs = .git studies cctools* gromacs*
+
 [yapf]
 # YAPF, in .style.yapf files this shows up as "[style]" header
 COLUMN_LIMIT = 119