diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index b6007e79..c197ebc5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -83,8 +83,13 @@ jobs:
       if: matrix.os == 'macos-12'
       run: |
         brew install ccache gcc@12 llvm hdf5 open-mpi openblas
-        pip3 install mako numpy scipy mpi4py
-        pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+        mkdir $HOME/.venv
+        python3 -m venv $HOME/.venv/my_python
+        source $HOME/.venv/my_python/bin/activate
+        pip install mako numpy scipy mpi4py
+        pip install -r requirements.txt
+        echo "VIRTUAL_ENV=$VIRTUAL_ENV" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        echo "PATH=$PATH" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
     - name: add clang cxxflags
       if: ${{ contains(matrix.cxx, 'clang') }}