diff --git a/komodo/build.py b/komodo/build.py
index 3b2f61bc..5bf959eb 100644
--- a/komodo/build.py
+++ b/komodo/build.py
@@ -196,6 +196,11 @@ def make(
     fakeroot=".",
 ):
     pkgorder = list(pkgs.keys())
+    # We only need to ensure that python is 'installed' first
+    pkgorder.remove("python")
+    pkgorder.insert(0, "python")
+    assert pkgorder[0] == "python"
+
     fakeprefix = fakeroot + prefix
     shell(["mkdir -p", fakeprefix])
     prefix = os.path.abspath(prefix)
diff --git a/komodo/cli.py b/komodo/cli.py
index 8a4b12bb..e5fcbfa4 100755
--- a/komodo/cli.py
+++ b/komodo/cli.py
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ def download_packages(
     repository_file_content: Mapping[str, Mapping[str, Union[str, Sequence[str]]]],
     download_destination: str,
     pip_executable: str = "pip",
-) -> Dict[str, str]:
+):
     """Downloads all PyPI packages to destination. Tries to download other
         packages to destination too.
     Git packages are collected, and a dict of all git hashes is returned.
@@ -151,14 +151,14 @@ def download_packages(
     --
     Dict of git hashes found
     """
-    git_hashes = fetch(
+    git_hashes, pypi_packages = fetch(
         release_file_content,
         repository_file_content,
         outdir=download_destination,
         pip=pip_executable,
     )
 
-    return git_hashes
+    return git_hashes, pypi_packages
 
 
 @profile_time("Building non-pip part of komodo in workspace")
@@ -270,36 +270,20 @@ def apply_fallback_tmpdir_for_pip_if_set(tmp_dir: Optional[str] = None):
 
 @profile_time("pip install to final destination")
 def install_previously_downloaded_pip_packages(
-    release_file_content: Mapping[str, str],
-    repository_file_content: Mapping[str, Mapping[str, Union[str, Sequence[str]]]],
-    downloads_directory: str,
-    pip_executable: str,
+    pypi_packages: list[str],
     release_root: Path,
 ) -> None:
-    for pkg, ver in release_file_content.items():
-        current = repository_file_content[pkg][ver]
-        if current["make"] != "pip":
-            continue
-
-        package_name = current.get("pypi_package_name", pkg)
-        if ver == LATEST_PACKAGE_ALIAS:
-            ver = latest_pypi_version(package_name)
-        shell_input = [
-            pip_executable,
-            f"install {package_name}=={strip_version(ver)}",
-            "--prefix",
-            str(release_root),
-            "--no-index",
-            "--no-deps",
-            "--ignore-installed",
-            "--no-compile",
-            # assuming fetch.py has done "pip download" to this directory:
-            f"--cache-dir {downloads_directory}",
-            f"--find-links {downloads_directory}",
-        ]
-        shell_input.append(current.get("makeopts"))
-
-        print(shell(shell_input))
+    shell_input = [
+        "uv pip",
+        "install",
+        f"--python {str(release_root / "bin" / "python")}",
+        "--no-deps",
+        "--no-cache",
+        "--reinstall",
+        " ".join(pypi_packages),
+    ]
+
+    print(shell(shell_input))
 
 
 def run_post_installation_scripts_if_set(
@@ -349,7 +333,7 @@ def _main(args: KomodoNamespace) -> None:
     data = Data(extra_data_dirs=args.extra_data_dirs)
     git_hashes = None
     if args.download or (not args.build and not args.install):
-        git_hashes = download_packages(
+        git_hashes, pypi_packages = download_packages(
             args.pkgs.content,
             args.repo.content,
             download_destination=args.downloads,
@@ -391,10 +375,7 @@ def _main(args: KomodoNamespace) -> None:
     apply_fallback_tmpdir_for_pip_if_set(args.tmp)
 
     install_previously_downloaded_pip_packages(
-        args.pkgs.content,
-        args.repo.content,
-        downloads_directory=args.downloads,
-        pip_executable=args.pip,
+        pypi_packages,
         release_root=release_root,
     )
     fixup_python_shebangs(args.prefix, args.release)
diff --git a/komodo/data/setup-py.sh b/komodo/data/setup-py.sh
index ae0b8c58..ffa3e757 100755
--- a/komodo/data/setup-py.sh
+++ b/komodo/data/setup-py.sh
@@ -52,10 +52,8 @@ while test $# -gt 0; do
 done
 
 unset DESTDIR
-$PIP install $OPTS .           \
-    --ignore-installed   \
-    --root $FAKEROOT     \
-    --no-deps            \
-    --no-cache-dir       \
-    --no-compile         \
-    --prefix $PREFIX 1>&2
+uv pip install  \
+    --python $FAKEROOT/$PREFIX/bin/python  \
+    --no-deps  \
+    --no-cache  \
+    --reinstall .  \
diff --git a/komodo/fetch.py b/komodo/fetch.py
index 605bfc36..f32c4673 100644
--- a/komodo/fetch.py
+++ b/komodo/fetch.py
@@ -158,9 +158,9 @@ def fetch(pkgs, repo, outdir, pip="pip") -> dict:
                     os.symlink(normalised_dir, pkgname)
 
         print(f"Downloading {len(pypi_packages)} pypi packages")
-        shell([pip, "download", "--no-deps", "--dest .", " ".join(pypi_packages)])
+        # shell([pip, "download", "--no-deps", "--dest .", " ".join(pypi_packages)])
 
-    return git_hashes
+    return git_hashes, pypi_packages
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":