diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 95d34823..6a39e5d3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -122,7 +122,8 @@ jobs:
         # podman needs (parts of) the environment but will break when
         # XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is set.
         # TODO: figure out what exactly podman needs
-        sudo -E XDG_RUNTIME_DIR= pytest-3 --basetemp=/mnt/var/tmp/bib-tests
+        # run 8 tests in paralel
+        sudo -E XDG_RUNTIME_DIR= pytest-3 -n 8 --basetemp=/mnt/var/tmp/bib-tests
     - name: Diskspace (after)
       if: ${{ always() }}
       run: |
diff --git a/test/requirements.txt b/test/requirements.txt
index 9be09ce7..80a205f8 100644
--- a/test/requirements.txt
+++ b/test/requirements.txt
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ paramiko==2.12.0
 boto3==1.33.13
 qmp==1.1.0
 pylint==3.2.5
+pytest-xdist