diff --git a/.github/workflows/standalone.yml b/.github/workflows/standalone.yml
index c44c03a111..375050450a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/standalone.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/standalone.yml
@@ -31,11 +31,28 @@ jobs:
       with:
         python-version: "3.11"
 
+    - uses: ConorMacBride/install-package@v1
+      with:
+          # mirrored from glue-qt
+          #  https://github.com/glue-viz/glue-qt/blob/main/.github/workflows/ci_workflows.yml
+          #  using
+          #   https://github.com/OpenAstronomy/github-actions-workflows/blob/5edb24fa432c75c0ca723ddea8ea14b72582919d/.github/workflows/tox.yml#L175C15-L175C49
+          # Linux PyQt 5.15 and 6.x installations require apt-getting xcb and EGL deps
+          # and headless X11 display;
+          apt: '^libxcb.*-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libegl1-mesa libopenblas-dev libhdf5-dev'
+
+    - name: Setup headless display
+      uses: pyvista/setup-headless-display-action@v2
+
     - name: Install jdaviz
-      run: pip install .[test]
+      run: pip install .[test,qt]
 
     - name: Install pyinstaller
-      run: pip install "pyinstaller<6"
+          # see https://github.com/erocarrera/pefile/issues/420 for performance issues on
+          # windows for pefile == 2024.8.26
+          # also see https://github.com/widgetti/solara/pull/724
+          # or https://solara.dev/documentation/advanced/howto/standalone (currently unpublished)
+          run: pip install "pyinstaller" "pefile<2024.8.26"
 
     - name: Create standalone binary
       env:
@@ -43,7 +60,7 @@ jobs:
       run: (cd standalone; pyinstaller ./jdaviz.spec)
 
     - name: Run jdaviz cmd in background
-      run: ./standalone/dist/jdaviz/jdaviz-cli imviz&
+      run: ./standalone/dist/jdaviz/jdaviz-cli imviz --port 8765 &
 
     - name: Install playwright
       run: (pip install playwright; playwright install chromium)
diff --git a/jdaviz/cli.py b/jdaviz/cli.py
index e5d44f3f08..445db88bc5 100644
--- a/jdaviz/cli.py
+++ b/jdaviz/cli.py
@@ -70,20 +70,16 @@ def main(filepaths=None, layout='default', instrument=None, browser='default',
     solara.theme = theme
     solara.jdaviz_verbosity = verbosity
     solara.jdaviz_history_verbosity = history_verbosity
-    args = []
-    if hotreload:
-        args += ['--auto-restart']
-    else:
-        args += ['--production']
-    run_solara(host=host, port=port, theme=theme, browser=browser)
+    run_solara(host=host, port=port, theme=theme, browser=browser, production=not hotreload)
 
 
-def run_solara(host, port, theme, browser):
+def run_solara(host, port, theme, browser, production: bool = True):
     os.environ["SOLARA_APP"] = "jdaviz.solara"
     import solara.server.starlette
     import solara.server.settings
     solara.server.settings.theme.variant = theme
     solara.server.settings.theme.loader = "plain"
+    solara.server.settings.main.mode = "production" if production else "development"
 
     server = solara.server.starlette.ServerStarlette(host="localhost", port=port)
     print(f"Starting server on {server.base_url}")
diff --git a/standalone/hooks/hook-matplotlib_inline.py b/standalone/hooks/hook-matplotlib_inline.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..432d0d302b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/standalone/hooks/hook-matplotlib_inline.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_data_files, copy_metadata
+
+datas = collect_data_files('matplotlib_inline')
+# since matplotlib 3.9 entry_points.txt is needed
+datas += copy_metadata('matplotlib_inline')
diff --git a/standalone/jdaviz-cli-entrypoint.py b/standalone/jdaviz-cli-entrypoint.py
index 5fbcbf7f59..05c29281ad 100644
--- a/standalone/jdaviz-cli-entrypoint.py
+++ b/standalone/jdaviz-cli-entrypoint.py
@@ -7,9 +7,24 @@
 import matplotlib_inline
 import matplotlib_inline.backend_inline
 
+# We still see the above error on CI on jdaviz, and the PyInstaller
+# output recommends the following:
+import matplotlib
+matplotlib.use("module://matplotlib_inline.backend_inline")
+# since matplotlib 3.9 (see https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/pull/27948),
+# it seems that matplotlib_inline.backend_inline is an alias for inline
+# so we make sure to communicate that to PyInstaller
+matplotlib.use("inline")
+
 import jdaviz.cli
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     # should change this to _main, but now it doesn't need arguments
-    jdaviz.cli.main(layout="")
+    args = sys.argv.copy()
+    # change the browser to qt if not specified
+    if "--browser" not in args:
+        args.append("--browser")
+        args.append("qt")
+    sys.argv = args
+    jdaviz.cli._main()
diff --git a/standalone/jdaviz.spec b/standalone/jdaviz.spec
index 11ddf9a610..83ff977079 100644
--- a/standalone/jdaviz.spec
+++ b/standalone/jdaviz.spec
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ exe = EXE(
     bootloader_ignore_signals=False,
     strip=False,
     upx=True,
-    console=True,
+    console=False,
     disable_windowed_traceback=False,
     argv_emulation=False,
     target_arch=None,