diff --git a/.github/workflows/no-suggest-cmd-check.yml b/.github/workflows/no-suggest-cmd-check.yml
index 7e420f8c..1e8b0333 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/no-suggest-cmd-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/no-suggest-cmd-check.yml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ jobs:
 
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      RUSH_TEST_USE_REDIS: true
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
diff --git a/.github/workflows/r-cmd-check.yml b/.github/workflows/r-cmd-check.yml
index ef7f56ce..116e8936 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/r-cmd-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/r-cmd-check.yml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ jobs:
 
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      RUSH_TEST_USE_REDIS: true
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
diff --git a/.github/workflows/revdep-check.yml b/.github/workflows/revdep-check.yml
index d9a8df6a..f54ce07e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/revdep-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/revdep-check.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ jobs:
 
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      RUSH_TEST_USE_REDIS: true
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
diff --git a/tests/testthat/helper_rush.R b/tests/testthat/helper_rush.R
index f3e93df7..b9ef5683 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/helper_rush.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/helper_rush.R
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # soon replaced by import from rush package
 skip_if_no_redis = function() {
   testthat::skip_on_cran()
+  testthat::skip_if_not_installed("redux")
 
   if (identical(Sys.getenv("RUSH_TEST_USE_REDIS"), "true") && redux::redis_available()) {
     return(invisible())
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_OptimInstanceAsyncSingleCrit.R b/tests/testthat/test_OptimInstanceAsyncSingleCrit.R
index 774bdcf6..493e6fea 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_OptimInstanceAsyncSingleCrit.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_OptimInstanceAsyncSingleCrit.R
@@ -44,10 +44,11 @@ test_that("context is initialized correctly", {
 })
 
 test_that("point evaluation works", {
-  rush = start_rush()
+  # use worker to make its functions available
+  # FIXME: remove this after rush 1.0.0 is released
+  rush = start_rush_worker()
   on.exit({
     rush$reset()
-    mirai::daemons(0)
   })
 
   instance = oi_async(
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsynGridSearch.R b/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsynGridSearch.R
index 74fb389d..49526de0 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsynGridSearch.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsynGridSearch.R
@@ -20,6 +20,4 @@ test_that("OptimizerAsyncGridSearch works", {
 
   expect_data_table(optimizer$optimize(instance), nrows = 1)
   expect_data_table(instance$archive$data, nrows = 100)
-
-  expect_rush_reset(instance$rush)
 })
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsync.R b/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsync.R
index 0cc096a2..ceb3980f 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsync.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_OptimizerAsync.R
@@ -1,30 +1,8 @@
 skip_if_not_installed("rush")
 skip_if_no_redis()
 
-test_that("OptimizerAsync starts local workers", {
-  rush = start_rush(n_workers = 1, worker_type = "local") # FIXME: change to "processx" after rush 1.0.0 is released
-  on.exit({
-    rush$reset()
-    walk(rush$processes_processx, function(p) p$kill())
-  })
-
-  instance = oi_async(
-    objective = OBJ_2D,
-    search_space = PS_2D,
-    terminator = trm("evals", n_evals = 50L),
-    rush = rush
-  )
-
-  optimizer = opt("async_random_search")
-  optimizer$optimize(instance)
-
-  expect_data_table(instance$rush$worker_info, nrows = 1)
-  expect_list(instance$rush$processes_processx, len = 1)
-
-})
-
-test_that("OptimizerAsync starts remote workers", {
-  rush = start_rush(n_worker = 1, worker_type = "remote") # FIXME: change to "mirai" after rush 1.0.0 is released
+test_that("OptimizerAsync starts workers", {
+  rush = start_rush(n_workers = 1, worker_type = "remote") # FIXME: change to "mirai" after rush 1.0.0 is released
   on.exit({
     rush$reset()
     mirai::daemons(0)