diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml
index 68715edaf5..a77c106224 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-core.yml
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ jobs:
   build:
 
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    env:
-      VENV_DIR: .venv
     strategy:
       matrix:
         python-version: ['3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-mlir.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-mlir.yml
index e6af1c776e..a7bd421d72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-mlir.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-mlir.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ jobs:
         python-version: ['3.10', '3.11', '3.12']
 
     env:
-      VENV_DIR: .venv
       LLVM_SYMBOLIZER_PATH: /usr/lib/llvm-11/bin/llvm-symbolizer
       MLIR-Version: d401987fe349a87c53fe25829215b080b70c0c1a
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-notebooks.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-notebooks.yml
index 794c05de2f..88f812d63a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-notebooks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-notebooks.yml
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ jobs:
   build:
 
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    env:
-      VENV_DIR: .venv
     strategy:
       matrix:
         python-version: ['3.10', '3.11', '3.12']
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-pyright-fails.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-pyright-fails.yml
index e749ddd66c..242ef950bb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-pyright-fails.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-pyright-fails.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ jobs:
         python-version: ["3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
 
     env:
-      VENV_DIR: .venv
       PYRIGHT_VERSION: 1.0
 
     steps:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 610b71852e..feaa554d97 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ MAKEFLAGS += --no-builtin-variables
 COVERAGE_FILE ?= .coverage
 
 # allow overriding the name of the venv directory
-VENV_DIR ?= venv
+VENV_DIR ?= .venv
 UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=${VENV_DIR}
 
 # allow overriding which extras are installed