diff --git a/.github/workflows/cpu-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/cpu-tests.yml
index 431e82ccc7..c3f0127887 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cpu-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cpu-tests.yml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ jobs:
             raw=$(git branch -r --contains ${{ github.ref_name }})
             branch=${raw/origin\/}
           fi
-          tox -e test-cpu -- $branch
+          MERLIN_BRANCH=$branch tox -e test-cpu
 
       # Build docs, treat warnings as errors
       - name: Building docs
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gpu-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/gpu-tests.yml
index a12bdad57f..5b93fd9756 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gpu-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gpu-tests.yml
@@ -31,4 +31,4 @@ jobs:
             raw=$(git branch -r --contains ${{ github.ref_name }})
             branch=${raw/origin\/}
           fi
-          cd ${{ github.workspace }}; tox -e test-gpu -- $branch
+          cd ${{ github.workspace }}; MERLIN_BRANCH=$branch tox -e test-gpu
diff --git a/requirements/test.txt b/requirements/test.txt
index 0a29deeed9..93b974e66a 100644
--- a/requirements/test.txt
+++ b/requirements/test.txt
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ s3fs>=2021.4
 aiobotocore>=1.3.3
 
 # required for synthetic data `merlin.datasets` and notebook tests using merlin models
-merlin-models[tensorflow]@git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git
+merlin-models[tensorflow]
 
 # needed to run notebook tests
 nest-asyncio
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index da0c1239a3..fd532cb1d1 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -16,13 +16,13 @@ setenv =
 ; Runs in: Github Actions
 ; Runs all CPU-based tests. NOTE: if you are using an M1 mac, this will fail. You need to
 ; change the tensorflow dependency to `tensorflow-macos` in requirements/test-cpu.txt.
-deps = -rrequirements/test.txt
+deps =
+    -rrequirements/test.txt
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/dataloader.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
 commands =
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{posargs:main}
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/dataloader.git@{posargs:main}
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git@{posargs:main}
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{posargs:main}
-    python -m pytest --cov-report term --cov=merlin -rxs tests/unit
+    python -m pytest --cov-report term --cov=merlin -rxs {posargs:tests/unit}
 
 [testenv:test-gpu]
 setenv =
@@ -32,21 +32,19 @@ passenv =
     NR_USER
     CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES
 sitepackages=true
-; Runs in: Internal Jenkins
+; Runs in: GitHub Actions
 ; Runs GPU-based tests.
 ; The jenkins jobs run on an image based on merlin-hugectr. This will include all cudf configuration
 ; and other gpu-specific libraries that we can enxpect will always exist. Thus, we don't need
 ; to install requirements.txt yet. As we get better at python environment isolation, we will
 ; need to add some back.
 deps =
-    pytest
-    pytest-cov
+    -rrequirements/test.txt
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/dataloader.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
 commands =
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/dataloader.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{posargs:main}
-    python -m pytest --cov-report term --cov merlin -rxs tests/unit
+    python -m pytest --cov-report term --cov merlin -rxs {posargs:tests/unit}
 
 [testenv:test-merlin]
 ; Runs in: Internal Jenkins
@@ -57,16 +55,13 @@ sitepackages=true
 allowlist_externals = git
 deps =
     -rrequirements/gpu.txt
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/dataloader.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
+    git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/systems.git@{env:MERLIN_BRANCH}
 commands =
     ; the GIT_COMMIT env is the current commit of the systems repo
     ; NOTE!!!! We must clean this up in the jenkins configuration with `rm -rf "Merlin-$GIT_COMMIT"`
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/dataloader.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/models.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/systems.git
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git@{posargs:main}
-    python -m pip install .
-
     git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/Merlin.git Merlin-{env:GIT_COMMIT}
 
     ; this runs the tests then removes the Merlin repo directory whether the tests work or fail
@@ -77,17 +72,18 @@ commands =
 ; Generates documentation with sphinx. There are other steps in the Github Actions workflow
 ; to publish the documentation on release.
 changedir = {toxinidir}
-deps = -rrequirements/docs.txt
+deps =
+     -rrequirements/docs.txt
+     git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git
 commands =
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git
     python -m sphinx.cmd.build -P -b {posargs:html} docs/source docs/build/{posargs:html}
 
 [testenv:docs-multi]
 ; Run the multi-version build that is shown on GitHub Pages.
 changedir = {toxinidir}
-deps = -rrequirements/docs.txt
+deps =
+     -rrequirements/docs.txt
+     git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git
 commands =
-    python -m pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/NVIDIA-Merlin/core.git
     sphinx-multiversion --dump-metadata docs/source docs/build/html | jq "keys"
     sphinx-multiversion docs/source docs/build/html
-