diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-tinygrad/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-tinygrad/action.yml
index 354bf0001c..5e82665da4 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-tinygrad/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-tinygrad/action.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,11 @@ inputs:
     required: false
     default: 'false'
   qemu:
-    description: "Install qemu"
+    description: "Install qemu?"
+    required: false
+    default: 'false'
+  ninja:
+    description: "Install ninja?"
     required: false
     default: 'false'
 runs:
@@ -130,7 +134,7 @@ runs:
 
     # ******************* apt *******************
     - name: Setup apt
-      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true')
+      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true' || inputs.ninja == 'true')
       shell: bash
       run: |
         sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/apt/archives
@@ -158,7 +162,7 @@ runs:
         echo "deb http://apt.llvm.org/$(lsb_release -cs)/ llvm-toolchain-$(lsb_release -cs)-20 main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/llvm.list
 
     - name: Compute Package List + Hash
-      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true')
+      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true' || inputs.ninja == 'true')
       id: apt-pkgs
       shell: bash
       run: |
@@ -183,25 +187,29 @@ runs:
         if [[ "${{ inputs.qemu }}" == "true" ]]; then
           pkgs+=" qemu-user-static"
         fi
+        # **** ninja ****
+        if [[ "${{ inputs.ninja }}" == "true" ]]; then
+          pkgs+=" ninja-build"
+        fi
 
         echo "pkgs=$pkgs" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
         echo "hash=$(echo -n "$pkgs" | sha256sum | cut -d' ' -f1)" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
     - name: Cache apt (PR)
-      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true') && github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true' || inputs.ninja == 'true') && github.event_name == 'pull_request'
       uses: actions/cache/restore@v5
       with:
         path: /var/cache/apt/archives/
         key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}-apt-${{ steps.apt-pkgs.outputs.hash }}-${{ env.CACHE_VERSION }}
     - name: Cache apt
-      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true') && github.event_name != 'pull_request'
+      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true' || inputs.ninja == 'true') && github.event_name != 'pull_request'
       uses: actions/cache@v5
       with:
         path: /var/cache/apt/archives/
         key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}-apt-${{ steps.apt-pkgs.outputs.hash }}-${{ env.CACHE_VERSION }}
 
     - name: Run apt Update + Install
-      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true')
+      if: runner.os == 'Linux' && (inputs.opencl == 'true' || inputs.amd == 'true' || inputs.webgpu == 'true' || inputs.llvm == 'true' || inputs.qemu == 'true' || inputs.ninja == 'true')
       shell: bash
       run: |
         sudo apt -qq update || true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index df668382a9..1e87b4d0a5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -72,10 +72,7 @@ jobs:
         deps: testing_unit
         pydeps: "pillow torchvision expecttest"
         llvm: 'true'
-    - name: Install ninja
-      run: |
-        sudo apt update || true
-        sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends ninja-build
+        ninja: 'true'
     - name: Test ResNet-18
       run: DEBUG=2 python3 extra/torch_backend/example.py
     - name: Test one op in torch tests
@@ -98,10 +95,7 @@ jobs:
         key: torch-backend-pillow-torchvision-et-pt
         deps: testing_unit
         llvm: 'true'
-    - name: Install ninja
-      run: |
-        sudo apt update || true
-        sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends ninja-build
+        ninja: 'true'
     - name: Test beautiful_mnist in torch with TINY_BACKEND
       run: STEPS=20 DEV=CPU TARGET_EVAL_ACC_PCT=90.0 MAX_BUFFER_SIZE=0 TINY_BACKEND=1 python3 examples/other_mnist/beautiful_mnist_torch.py