diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/integration.yml b/.gitea/workflows/integration.yml
index 34c788c..daa464b 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/integration.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/integration.yml
@@ -23,10 +23,17 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install system packages (Python, ffmpeg, aria2, yt-dlp)
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update -y
-          sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip ffmpeg aria2 yt-dlp
+          # ensure venv support is available so we can create an isolated environment
+          sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-venv ffmpeg aria2 yt-dlp
 
-      - name: Install project
-        run: python3 -m pip install -e .
+      - name: Install project into virtual environment
+        run: |
+          # create a venv and use it for installs to avoid modifying the system Python
+          python3 -m venv .venv
+          # activate the venv for this step
+          . .venv/bin/activate
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          python -m pip install -e .
 
       - name: Run integration test
         run: python3 tests/integration_full_workflow_test.py
\ No newline at end of file