diff --git a/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml
index bfe5bb2f..4968b40c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/django-tests.yml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ jobs:
         CELERY_BROKER: ""
         REDIS_BROKER_PORT: 6379
         REDIS_BROKER_PASSWORD: beep
+        USE_LOCAL_CACHE: true
         FLOWER_PORT: 8888
         EMAIL_HOST: "smtp.mailgun.org"
         EMAIL_PORT: 587
diff --git a/bookwyrm/settings.py b/bookwyrm/settings.py
index fcc9b51f..59931dab 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/settings.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/settings.py
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ CACHES = {
         },
     }
 }
+if env("USE_LOCAL_CACHE", False):
+    # use the default local memory cache for testing
+    CACHE = None
+
 SESSION_ENGINE = "django.contrib.sessions.backends.cache"
 SESSION_CACHE_ALIAS = "default"