diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 7b60234eb7609ccc4ed242351cce88f14217b4ae..f1a2d7599883101411a291514eb326fea68e3870 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@ Python 3 POCL Examples:
   - test -n "$SKIP_EXAMPLES" && exit
   - export PY_EXE=python3
   - export PYOPENCL_TEST=portable:pthread
-  # cython is here because pytential (for now, for TS) depends on it
-  - export EXTRA_INSTALL="pybind11 cython numpy mako matplotlib"
+  - export EXTRA_INSTALL="pybind11 numpy mako"
   - curl -L -O https://gitlab.tiker.net/inducer/ci-support/raw/main/build-py-project-and-run-examples.sh
   - ". ./build-py-project-and-run-examples.sh"
   tags:
@@ -51,7 +50,6 @@ Python 3 POCL Examples:
 
 Python 3 Conda:
   script: |
-    export MPLBACKEND=Agg
     curl -L -O https://gitlab.tiker.net/inducer/ci-support/raw/main/build-and-test-py-project-within-miniconda.sh
     . ./build-and-test-py-project-within-miniconda.sh
   tags:
@@ -82,7 +80,7 @@ Flake8:
 Pylint:
   script: |
     export PY_EXE=python3
-    EXTRA_INSTALL="Cython pybind11 numpy mako matplotlib scipy mpi4py oct2py"
+    EXTRA_INSTALL="pybind11 numpy mako"
     curl -L -O https://gitlab.tiker.net/inducer/ci-support/raw/master/prepare-and-run-pylint.sh
     . ./prepare-and-run-pylint.sh "$CI_PROJECT_NAME" examples/*.py test/test_*.py
   tags: