diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 610e1b43e..1cee8cbcb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           pytest --ignore=tests/e2e/ tests/
 
+      - name: cleanup pip cache
+        run: |
+          find "$(pip cache dir)/http-v2" -type f -mtime +14 -exec rm {} \;
+
   docker-e2e-tests:
     if: github.repository_owner == 'axolotl-ai-cloud'
     # this job needs to be run on self-hosted GPU runners...
@@ -99,7 +103,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install Modal
         run: |
           python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          pip install modal jinja2
+          pip install modal==0.63.64 jinja2
       - name: Update env vars
         run: |
           echo "BASE_TAG=main-base-py${{ matrix.python_version }}-cu${{ matrix.cuda }}-${{ matrix.pytorch }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
diff --git a/cicd/cicd.sh b/cicd/cicd.sh
index bc36458ab..180150ea2 100755
--- a/cicd/cicd.sh
+++ b/cicd/cicd.sh
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 set -e
 
 pytest --ignore=tests/e2e/ /workspace/axolotl/tests/
-pytest /workspace/axolotl/tests/e2e/patched/
+pytest -n1 --dist loadfile -v /workspace/axolotl/tests/e2e/patched/
 pytest --ignore=tests/e2e/patched/ /workspace/axolotl/tests/e2e/