diff --git a/.claude/skills/run-tests/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/run-tests/SKILL.md
index 1c047332..ea0d4ae6 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/run-tests/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/run-tests/SKILL.md
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ allowed-tools:
   - Bash(ls *)
   - Bash(cat *)
   - Bash(jq * .pytest_cache/*)
+  # process inspection + SIGINT-first cleanup ladder (see
+  # the zombie-actor pre-flight / teardown steps below).
+  - Bash(ss *)
+  - Bash(pgrep *)
+  - Bash(pkill *)
+  - Bash(sleep *)
+  - Bash(rm -f /tmp/registry@*.sock)
   - Read
   - Grep
   - Glob
diff --git a/tests/test_local.py b/tests/test_local.py
index 12be5ace..765ff796 100644
--- a/tests/test_local.py
+++ b/tests/test_local.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def test_no_runtime():
         async with tractor.find_actor('doggy'):
             pass
 
-    with pytest.raises(tractor._exceptions.NoRuntime) :
+    with pytest.raises(tractor._exceptions.NoRuntime):
         trio.run(main)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_ringbuf.py b/tests/test_ringbuf.py
index 1fc0b8c1..56c4eae8 100644
--- a/tests/test_ringbuf.py
+++ b/tests/test_ringbuf.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import pytest
 import tractor
 
 # XXX `cffi` dun build on py3.14 yet..
-cffi = pytest.importorskip("cffi")
+pytest.importorskip("cffi")
 
 from tractor.ipc._ringbuf import (
     open_ringbuf,