diff --git a/arraycontext/impl/pytato/__init__.py b/arraycontext/impl/pytato/__init__.py
index 7022d3217a3d6b5f928698987220960244e74b72..4d987a4aa566ba5a578b659764efc766c5ce3c74 100644
--- a/arraycontext/impl/pytato/__init__.py
+++ b/arraycontext/impl/pytato/__init__.py
@@ -54,12 +54,15 @@ class PytatoPyOpenCLArrayContext(ArrayContext):
 
     def __init__(self, queue, allocator=None, force_device_scalars=True):
         super().__init__()
-        assert force_device_scalars == True
+        assert force_device_scalars is True
         self._force_device_scalars = True
         self.queue = queue
         self.allocator = allocator
         self.np = self._get_fake_numpy_namespace()
 
+        # unused, but necessary to keep the context alive
+        self.context = self.queue.context
+
     def _get_fake_numpy_namespace(self):
         from arraycontext.impl.pytato.fake_numpy import PytatoFakeNumpyNamespace
         return PytatoFakeNumpyNamespace(self)
diff --git a/arraycontext/pytest.py b/arraycontext/pytest.py
index 9171027b9feb6d5702ede0aab8413198550080ef..de1e005753c4acb0c046eca60e208ff598b7ea60 100644
--- a/arraycontext/pytest.py
+++ b/arraycontext/pytest.py
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ class _PytestPyOpenCLArrayContextFactoryWithClassAndHostScalars(
     force_device_scalars = False
 
 
-class _PytestPytatoPyOpenCLArrayContextFactory(_PytestPyOpenCLArrayContextFactoryWithClass):
+class _PytestPytatoPyOpenCLArrayContextFactory(
+        _PytestPyOpenCLArrayContextFactoryWithClass):
 
     @property
     def actx_class(self):