diff --git a/.ci/run b/.ci/run
index 38070f34..060a7de8 100755
--- a/.ci/run
+++ b/.ci/run
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ if ! command -v sudo; then
     }
 fi
 
+# --parallel-live to show outputs while it's running
+tox_cmd='run-parallel --parallel-live'
 if [ -n "${CI-}" ]; then
     # install OS specific stuff here
     # TODO: pyjq is not necessary anymore? will keep CI deps just in case I guess
@@ -25,7 +27,8 @@ if [ -n "${CI-}" ]; then
         ;;
     cygwin* | msys* | win*)
         # windows
-        :
+        # ugh. parallel stuff seems super flaky under windows, some random failures, "file used by other process" and crap like that
+        tox_cmd='run'
         ;;
     *)
         # must be linux?
@@ -44,5 +47,9 @@ if ! command -v python3 &> /dev/null; then
     PY_BIN="python"
 fi
 
-"$PY_BIN" -m pip install --user tox
-"$PY_BIN" -m tox --parallel --parallel-live "$@"
+
+# TODO hmm for some reason installing uv with pip and then running
+# "$PY_BIN" -m uv tool fails with missing setuptools error??
+# just uvx directly works, but it's not present in PATH...
+"$PY_BIN" -m pip install --user pipx
+"$PY_BIN" -m pipx run uv tool run --with=tox-uv tox $tox_cmd "$@"
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 260df645..85f93f71 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -25,10 +25,9 @@ passenv =
     # but we want them on CI, so we allow to pass through the variable when we do want to run them
     WITH_BROWSER_TESTS
     # todo ugh this is all so confusing... need to simplify
-usedevelop = true  # for some reason tox seems to ignore "-e ." in deps section??
-# note: --use-pep517 here is necessary for tox --parallel flag to work properly
-# otherwise it seems that it tries to modify .eggs dir in parallel and it fails
-install_command = {envpython} -m pip install --use-pep517 {opts} {packages}
+setenv =
+    HPI_MODULE_INSTALL_USE_UV=true
+uv_seed = true  # seems necessary so uv creates separate venvs per tox env?
 
 
 [testenv:ruff]