diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 2038336..a5ff698 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -22,13 +22,23 @@ jobs:
           python-version: '3.12'
           cache: pip
 
+      - name: Install system dependencies
+        run: sudo apt-get install -y libsqlcipher-dev
+
+      - name: Install circuitforge-core
+        run: pip install git+https://git.opensourcesolarpunk.com/Circuit-Forge/circuitforge-core.git@main
+
       - name: Install dependencies
-        run: pip install -r requirements.txt
+        run: pip install -r requirements.txt ruff pytest
 
       - name: Lint
         run: ruff check .
 
       - name: Test
+        env:
+          STAGING_DB: /tmp/peregrine-ci.db
+          CLOUD_DATA_ROOT: /tmp/peregrine-ci-cloud
+          PEREGRINE_LOG_DIR: /tmp/peregrine-ci-logs
         run: pytest tests/ -v --tb=short
 
   frontend:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d3f3a21..0c9a1e1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ exclude = ["app/"]
 [tool.ruff.lint.per-file-ignores]
 # dev-api.py / dev_api.py (symlink): E702 semicolons in compact Pydantic model
 # definitions — intentional style for dense data models with many simple fields.
-"dev-api.py" = ["E702"]
-"dev_api.py" = ["E702"]
+# E402: mid-file module-level imports are intentional in dev-api.py for test patchability.
+"dev-api.py" = ["E702", "E402"]
+"dev_api.py" = ["E702", "E402"]
 
 # finetune_local.py: E402 ML libs (torch, datasets, trl) are imported after
 # runtime CUDA / Unsloth availability checks — conditional import pattern.