diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index a7f0721851686686ec8819606c4d14297ff61bc4..81372257bfb43a079f6c18d4889e850871f7fabd 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ tests:
         - apt install -y libgl1-mesa-glx xvfb
         - pip install tox
         - apt install -y graphviz xdg-utils
-        - xvfb-run -s "-screen 0 800x600x24" tox
+        - xvfb-run tox -v --recreate
 
 build_and_deploy_docs:
     image: "python:latest"
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ build_and_deploy_docs:
     script:
         - pip install -r requirements_dev.txt
         - python setup.py install
-        - make docs
+        - xvfb-run make docs
         - aws s3 cp ./docs/_build/html/ s3://${BUCKET_NAME} --recursive
     environment:
         name: ${CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG}
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5a4d36e92c35da5a15a9730dd73905afcc46c5f0..98dcbb47a03ad7125694e5053f5e973e45b4fba4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ test-all: ## run tests on every Python version with tox
 	tox
 
 coverage: ## check code coverage quickly with the default Python
-	xvfb-run -a coverage run --source flatland -m pytest
+	coverage run --source flatland -m pytest
 	coverage report -m
 	coverage html
 	$(BROWSER) htmlcov/index.html
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 4746c0e809df7b97eb3505e2e0c1251a9f7e2498..20dda8143980dae04fd1c97556c61cfe0de07f2d 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [tox]
-envlist = py36, py37, flake8, docs, coverage, benchmark, xvfb-run, sh
+envlist = py36, py37, flake8, docs, coverage, benchmark, sh
 
 [travis]
 python =
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@ commands =
     sh -c 'ls benchmarks/*.py  | xargs -n 1 python'
 
 [testenv]
-whitelist_externals = xvfb-run
-                      sh
+whitelist_externals = sh
                       pip
 setenv =
     PYTHONPATH = {toxinidir}
@@ -51,6 +50,6 @@ commands =
     pip install -U pip
     pip install -r requirements_dev.txt
     sh -c 'echo DISPLAY: $DISPLAY'
-    xvfb-run -a py.test --basetemp={envtmpdir}
+    py.test --basetemp={envtmpdir}