diff --git a/runs/miniseries.sh b/runs/miniseries.sh
index 01c4459..59cfbd7 100644
--- a/runs/miniseries.sh
+++ b/runs/miniseries.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ mkdir -p $NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR
 if [ -z "$SKIP_SETUP" ]; then
     # uv
     command -v uv &> /dev/null || curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
-    [ -d ".venv" ] || uv venv
     uv sync --extra gpu
     source .venv/bin/activate
 
diff --git a/runs/runcpu.sh b/runs/runcpu.sh
index 853fa1f..fd422ae 100755
--- a/runs/runcpu.sh
+++ b/runs/runcpu.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 export NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR="$HOME/.cache/nanochat"
 mkdir -p $NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR
 command -v uv &> /dev/null || curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
-[ -d ".venv" ] || uv venv
 uv sync --extra cpu
 source .venv/bin/activate
 if [ -z "$WANDB_RUN" ]; then
diff --git a/runs/speedrun.sh b/runs/speedrun.sh
index c757253..30273d5 100644
--- a/runs/speedrun.sh
+++ b/runs/speedrun.sh
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ mkdir -p $NANOCHAT_BASE_DIR
 
 # install uv (if not already installed)
 command -v uv &> /dev/null || curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
-# create a .venv local virtual environment (if it doesn't exist)
-[ -d ".venv" ] || uv venv
-# install the repo dependencies
+# uv sync installs the repo dependencies and automatically creates a .venv if it doesn't exist
 uv sync --extra gpu
 # activate venv so that `python` uses the project's venv instead of system python
 source .venv/bin/activate