diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 0f997b4..0bfb915 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -12,15 +12,28 @@ jobs:
     
     steps:
     - name: Checkout code
-      uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      
+      run: |
+        # Manual checkout since we're on a host runner without Node.js
+        if [ -d ".git" ]; then
+          git pull origin ${{ github.ref_name }}
+        else
+          git clone ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }} .
+          git checkout ${{ github.sha }}
+        fi
+        
     - name: Set up Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v4
-      with:
-        python-version: '3.x'  # or specify version like '3.9', '3.10', etc.
+      run: |
+        # Check if Python is available
+        python3 --version || python --version
+        # Create a virtual environment for isolation
+        python3 -m venv venv || python -m venv venv
+        source venv/bin/activate
+        echo "VIRTUAL_ENV=$VIRTUAL_ENV" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        echo "$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
         
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
+        source venv/bin/activate
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
         # Install package in development mode
         pip install -e .
@@ -32,6 +45,7 @@ jobs:
         
     - name: Lint with flake8
       run: |
+        source venv/bin/activate
         # Stop the build if there are Python syntax errors or undefined names
         flake8 . --count --select=E9,F63,F7,F82 --show-source --statistics
         # Exit-zero treats all errors as warnings. The GitHub editor is 127 chars wide
@@ -39,10 +53,12 @@ jobs:
         
     - name: Run tests with pytest
       run: |
+        source venv/bin/activate
         # Run tests with coverage
         python -m pytest tests/ -v --cov=pyWebLayout --cov-report=term-missing
         
     - name: Test package installation
       run: |
+        source venv/bin/activate
         # Test that the package can be imported
-        python -c "import pyWebLayout; print('Package imported successfully')"
+        python -c "import pyWebLayout; print('Package imported successfully')"
\ No newline at end of file