diff --git a/.github/workflows/core.yml b/.github/workflows/core.yml
index ba16e9731..e2a2dfda1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/core.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/core.yml
@@ -18,50 +18,38 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-    - name: setup
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+    - name: Setup environment (macOS)
       if: runner.os == 'macos'
       run: |
         brew update
-        brew install autoconf automake
-
-    #- name: Setup libfec
-    #  run: git clone https://github.com/jgaeddert/libfec.git && cd libfec && ./configure && make && sudo make install
+        brew install autoconf automake pybind11 virtualenv
 
-    - name: Setup pybind-dev (Linux)
+    - name: Setup environment (Linux)
       if: runner.os == 'Linux'
-      run: sudo apt-get install pybind11-dev
-
-    - name: Setup pybind-dev (macOS)
-      if: runner.os == 'macOS'
-      run: brew install pybind11
+      run: |
+        sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends build-essential pybind11-dev virtualenv python3-dev
 
-    - name: Setup python dependencies (pip)
-      run: sudo -H python3 -m pip install pybind11 numpy matplotlib
+    #- name: Setup libfec
+    #  run: git clone https://github.com/jgaeddert/libfec.git && cd libfec && ./configure && make && sudo make install
 
     - name: bootstrap
-      run: ./bootstrap.sh
-
-    - name: configure
-      run: ./configure
-
-    - name: make
-      run: make -j 2
-
-    - name: make check-doc
-      run: make check-doc
-
-    - name: make check
-      run: make -j 2 check
-
-    - name: make install
-      run: sudo make install
-
-    - name: ldconfig (Linux)
-      if: runner.os == 'Linux'
-      run: sudo ldconfig
-
-    - name: make check-link
-      run: make check-link
+      run: |
+        virtualenv env/liquid
+        source env/liquid/bin/activate
+        python -m pip install pybind11 numpy matplotlib
+        mkdir build
+        cd build
+        cmake ..
+        make
+        #make install
+        #ldconfig
+        ./xautotest -v -o autotest.json
+        #make check-link
+        #make doc-check
+        #make bench
 
   build_wheels:
     name: Build wheels on ${{ matrix.os }}