diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 2c22e7c66ad..f47d1f84e77 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install Docutils ${{ matrix.docutils }}
       run: uv pip install --upgrade "docutils~=${{ matrix.docutils }}.0"
     - name: Test with pytest
-      run: python -m pytest -vv --durations 25
+      run: python -m pytest -n logical --dist=worksteal -vv --durations 25
       env:
         PYTHONWARNINGS: "error"  # treat all warnings as errors
 
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install Docutils ${{ matrix.docutils }}
       run: python -m pip install --upgrade "docutils~=${{ matrix.docutils }}.0"
     - name: Test with pytest
-      run: python -m pytest -vv --durations 25
+      run: python -m pytest -n logical --dist=worksteal -vv --durations 25
       env:
         PYTHONWARNINGS: "error"  # treat all warnings as errors
 
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ jobs:
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
         python -m pip install .[test]
     - name: Test with pytest
-      run: python -m pytest -vv --durations 25
+      run: python -m pytest -n logical --dist=worksteal -vv --durations 25
       env:
         PYTHONWARNINGS: "error"  # treat all warnings as errors
 
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ jobs:
         sed -i 's/flit_core>=3.7/flit_core @ git+https:\/\/github.com\/pypa\/flit.git#subdirectory=flit_core/' pyproject.toml
         python -m pip install .[test]
     - name: Test with pytest
-      run: python -m pytest -vv --durations 25
+      run: python -m pytest -n logical --dist=worksteal -vv --durations 25
       env:
         PYTHONWARNINGS: "error"  # treat all warnings as errors
 
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install Docutils' HEAD
       run: uv pip install "docutils @ git+https://repo.or.cz/docutils.git#subdirectory=docutils"
     - name: Test with pytest
-      run: python -m pytest -vv
+      run: python -m pytest -n logical --dist=worksteal -vv
       env:
         PYTHONWARNINGS: "error"  # treat all warnings as errors
         DO_EPUBCHECK: "1"
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ jobs:
         uv pip install .[test] --resolution lowest-direct
         uv pip install alabaster==1.0.0
     - name: Test with pytest
-      run: python -m pytest -vv --durations 25
+      run: python -m pytest -n logical --dist=worksteal -vv --durations 25
       env:
         PYTHONWARNINGS: "error"  # treat all warnings as errors
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index efac2086b58..be88499c58f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ lint = [
 ]
 test = [
     "pytest>=8.0",
+    "pytest-xdist[psutil]>=3.4",
     "defusedxml>=0.7.1", # for secure XML/HTML parsing
     "cython>=3.0",
     "setuptools>=70.0",  # for Cython compilation