diff --git a/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml
index 8ee1cea52..850a4be32 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml
@@ -53,4 +53,4 @@ jobs:
         EMAIL_USE_TLS: true
         ENABLE_PREVIEW_IMAGES: true
       run: |
-        pytest --reuse-db
+        pytest -n 3
diff --git a/bookwyrm/test_settings.py b/bookwyrm/test_settings.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 5dc34c97b..000000000
--- a/bookwyrm/test_settings.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-""" bookwyrm settings and configuration """
-from bookwyrm.settings import *
-
-MIGRATION_MODULES = {
-    'auth': None,
-    'contenttypes': None,
-    'default': None,
-    'sessions': None,
-
-    'core': None,
-    'profiles': None,
-    'snippets': None,
-    'scaffold_templates': None,
-}
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 6d29982e9..85145a4db 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -21,3 +21,4 @@ coverage==5.1
 pytest-django==4.1.0
 pytest==6.1.2
 pytest-cov==2.10.1
+pytest-xdist==2.3.0