diff --git a/.github/workflows/run_unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/run_unit_tests.yml
index 692f42ef..8f74a1ed 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run_unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run_unit_tests.yml
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip pytest pytest-aiohttp coverage coverage-badge
         if [ -f requirements.txt ]; then pip install -r requirements.txt; fi
+        # see #91 for reasoning behind explicit install of _restclient
+        pip install -e "python/_restclient[develop]"
         python setup.py develop
     - name: Run all unittests 
       run: |