diff --git a/piker/config.py b/piker/config.py
index 981e5b5f..97eb4881 100644
--- a/piker/config.py
+++ b/piker/config.py
@@ -104,14 +104,15 @@ def get_app_dir(
     # `tractor`) with the testing dir and check for it whenever we
     # detect `pytest` is being used (which it isn't under normal
     # operation).
-    if "pytest" in sys.modules:
-        import tractor
-        actor = tractor.current_actor(err_on_no_runtime=False)
-        if actor:  # runtime is up
-            rvs = tractor._state._runtime_vars
-            testdirpath = Path(rvs['piker_vars']['piker_test_dir'])
-            assert testdirpath.exists(), 'piker test harness might be borked!?'
-            app_name = str(testdirpath)
+    # if "pytest" in sys.modules:
+    #     import tractor
+    #     actor = tractor.current_actor(err_on_no_runtime=False)
+    #     if actor:  # runtime is up
+    #         rvs = tractor._state._runtime_vars
+    #         import pdbp; pdbp.set_trace()
+    #         testdirpath = Path(rvs['piker_vars']['piker_test_dir'])
+    #         assert testdirpath.exists(), 'piker test harness might be borked!?'
+    #         app_name = str(testdirpath)
 
     if platform.system() == 'Windows':
         key = "APPDATA" if roaming else "LOCALAPPDATA"