diff --git a/.github/workflows/fitbot.yml b/.github/workflows/fitbot.yml
index aebd54ec26..e937b88bd5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/fitbot.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/fitbot.yml
@@ -10,13 +10,12 @@ on:
 env:
   N3FIT_MAXNREP: 20 # total number of replicas to fit
   POSTFIT_NREP: 16 # requested replicas for postfit
-  REFERENCE_SET: NNBOT-343ee3d98-2024-11-27 # reference set for exact results
+  REFERENCE_SET: NNBOT-b1374cba6-2024-11-28 # reference set for exact results
   STABLE_REFERENCE_SET: NNBOT-c0f99b7b3-2024-02-28 # reference set for last tag
-  CONDA_PY: 312
   PYTHONHASHSEED: "0"
 
 jobs:
-  build:
+  fitbot:
     # perform build only if PR has run-fit-bot label
     if: contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'run-fit-bot')
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -29,31 +28,18 @@ jobs:
       with:
         python-version: "3.12"
         use-mamba: true
-        channels: https://packages.nnpdf.science/public,conda-forge
+        channels: conda-forge
         show-channel-urls: true
         auto-update-conda: true
-    - name: Install SSH key
-      uses: shimataro/ssh-key-action@v2
-      with:
-        key: ${{ secrets.NNPDF_SSA }}
-        name: id_rsa
-        known_hosts: ${{ secrets.NNPDF_HOSTS_KEY }}
-    - name: Setup conda and install conda-build
-      shell: bash -l {0}
-      run: |
-        conda install conda-build --yes
-    - name: Build recipe
+        activate-environment: nnpdfenv
+    - name: Install lhapdf, pandoc and mongodb
       shell: bash -l {0}
       run: |
-        CONDA_PY=$CONDA_PY conda build --no-test -q conda-recipe
-    # install local build
-    - name: Installing NNPDF conda package
+        conda install lhapdf pandoc mongodb
+    - name: Install nnpdf with pip
       shell: bash -l {0}
       run: |
-        conda update -n base conda
-        conda install -n base conda-libmamba-solver
-        conda config --set solver libmamba
-        conda create -n nnpdfenv -c file:///usr/share/miniconda/envs/test/conda-bld/linux-64/ nnpdf
+        pip install .
     # create fancy runcards
     - name: Preparing fit runcard
       run: |
@@ -62,29 +48,32 @@ jobs:
         export TIMESTAMP=`date --iso-8601`
         echo "RUNCARD=NNBOT-$COMMIT-$TIMESTAMP" >> $GITHUB_ENV
         echo "RUNFOLDER=n3fit/runcards/examples" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-    # downloading theory and t0
+    # downloading theory, t0 and eko
     - name: Downloading requirements
       shell: bash -l {0}
       run: |
-        conda activate nnpdfenv
         cd $RUNFOLDER
         cp developing.yml $RUNCARD.yml
         vp-setupfit $RUNCARD.yml
-    # running n3fit replicas
+    # run n3fit replicas sequentially
     - name: Running n3fit
       shell: bash -l {0}
       run: |
-        conda activate nnpdfenv
         cd $RUNFOLDER
         for ((i=1; i<=$N3FIT_MAXNREP; i+=1)); do n3fit $RUNCARD.yml $i ; done
     # performing DGLAP
     - name: Running dglap
       shell: bash -l {0}
       run: |
-        conda activate nnpdfenv
         cd $RUNFOLDER
         evolven3fit evolve $RUNCARD
-    # running postfit
+    # running postfit and upload the fit to the server
+    - name: Install SSH key
+      uses: shimataro/ssh-key-action@v2
+      with:
+        key: ${{ secrets.NNPDF_SSA }}
+        name: id_rsa
+        known_hosts: ${{ secrets.NNPDF_HOSTS_KEY }}
     - name: Postfit and upload fit
       shell: bash -l {0}
       run: |
diff --git a/conda-recipe/meta.yaml b/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
index 62a07ce62f..f88f3e7a0a 100644
--- a/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda-recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -20,10 +20,11 @@ requirements:
     run:
         - python >=3.9,<3.13
         - tensorflow >=2.10,<2.17 # 2.17 works ok but the conda-forge package for macos doesn't
-        - psutil # to ensure n3fit affinity is with the right processors
+        - psutil
         - hyperopt
         - mongodb
         - pymongo <4
+        - pyopenssl >=23.2
         - seaborn
         - lhapdf
         - numpy