diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 8a969e540..0c8148daa 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -138,7 +138,9 @@ jobs:
   test:
     needs: changes
     runs-on: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.runner == 'korvid-runners' && 'korvid-runners' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
-    # The full suite under coverage takes 39-46 minutes on Python 3.12 (#454).
+    # In one process the suite under coverage took 39-46 minutes on Python
+    # 3.12 (#454); it now runs on four xdist workers (#468), and the limit
+    # stays as headroom for a loaded runner.
     timeout-minutes: 60
     strategy:
       matrix:
@@ -159,7 +161,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: uvx deptry src/
       # A docs-only change still gets a full suite run, on one version.
       - if: needs.changes.outputs.code == 'true' || matrix.python-version == '3.12'
-        run: uv run pytest --cov --cov-fail-under=80
+        run: uv run pytest -n 4 --cov --cov-fail-under=80
 
   windows-test:
     needs: changes
@@ -199,7 +201,7 @@ jobs:
       # The docs landing harness ran above in a fresh process; do not execute
       # it a second time in the long-lived Windows pytest process.
       - if: needs.changes.outputs.code == 'true'
-        run: uv run pytest -q --ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py --ignore=tests/test_docs_landing_behavior.py --deselect=tests/core/test_audit.py::test_concurrent_appends_across_instances --randomly-seed=${{ github.run_id }}
+        run: uv run pytest -n 4 -q --ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py --ignore=tests/test_docs_landing_behavior.py --deselect=tests/core/test_audit.py::test_concurrent_appends_across_instances --randomly-seed=${{ github.run_id }}
 
   pre-commit:
     needs: changes
diff --git a/docs/dev/quality-gates.md b/docs/dev/quality-gates.md
index be65968fd..9a3e7c03b 100644
--- a/docs/dev/quality-gates.md
+++ b/docs/dev/quality-gates.md
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ gate wastes more time than it saves.
 | job | what it establishes |
 |---|---|
 | `changes` | classifies the diff so a docs-only change skips redundant test legs |
-| `test` (3.11, 3.12, 3.13) | ruff, `ruff format --check`, mypy, `tach`, `deptry`, `pytest --cov --cov-fail-under=80` |
+| `test` (3.11, 3.12, 3.13) | ruff, `ruff format --check`, mypy, `tach`, `deptry`, `pytest -n 4 --cov --cov-fail-under=80` (four xdist workers; coverage is combined across them) |
 | `windows-test` (3.12) | OS-specific behaviour — path handling, terminal, keyring |
 | `pre-commit` | the layer-1 hooks over every file |
 | `security` | `pip-audit` on the locked runtime resolution **including every extra**, `zizmor` on the workflows |
diff --git a/tests/k8s/test_pulse.py b/tests/k8s/test_pulse.py
index 7cd6d7343..d3e1f1af2 100644
--- a/tests/k8s/test_pulse.py
+++ b/tests/k8s/test_pulse.py
@@ -247,6 +247,9 @@ async def refresh(
         ("gzip", gzip.compress(b'{"items": []}') + b"trailing"),
         ("br", b"unsupported"),
     ],
+    # Named, not derived from the payload: a gzip header carries the time it
+    # was written, and xdist aborts when its workers collect different IDs.
+    ids=["gzip-not-compressed", "gzip-truncated", "gzip-trailing-bytes", "br-unsupported"],
 )
 async def test_invalid_compression_fails_closed_and_closes_response(
     pulse: ModuleType, encoding: str, payload: bytes
diff --git a/tests/test_ci_workflow.py b/tests/test_ci_workflow.py
index 1e05ee83e..c70c3709d 100644
--- a/tests/test_ci_workflow.py
+++ b/tests/test_ci_workflow.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import json
 import os
+import shlex
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 from collections.abc import Mapping
@@ -72,7 +73,9 @@
 WINDOWS_SEED = "${{ github.run_id }}"
 CI_JOB_TIMEOUTS = {
     "changes": 10,
-    # The full suite under coverage takes 39-46 minutes on Python 3.12 (#454).
+    # In one process the suite under coverage took 39-46 minutes on Python
+    # 3.12 (#454); it now runs on four xdist workers (#468), and the limit
+    # stays as headroom for a loaded runner.
     "test": 60,
     "windows-test": 45,
     "pre-commit": 20,
@@ -431,6 +434,60 @@ def test_windows_pytest_processes_print_and_share_one_deterministic_seed() -> No
     assert sum(run.count("--randomly-seed=") for run in runs) == 2
 
 
+def test_the_full_suite_runs_on_four_xdist_workers() -> None:
+    """In one process the suite took the 3.12 coverage job past 45 minutes
+    (#454); four workers run it, with the same coverage, in under a third of
+    the time (#468). A fixed count rather than `auto`: a korvid-runners pod
+    requests one CPU on a shared eight-vCPU node."""
+    jobs = _jobs(CI_WORKFLOW)
+    linux_suite = [run for run in _run_steps(jobs["test"]) if run.startswith("uv run pytest")]
+    windows_suite = [
+        run
+        for run in _run_steps(jobs["windows-test"])
+        if run.startswith("uv run pytest")
+        and "--ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py" in run
+    ]
+
+    assert linux_suite == ["uv run pytest -n 4 --cov --cov-fail-under=80"]
+    assert len(windows_suite) == 1
+    assert windows_suite[0].startswith("uv run pytest -n 4 -q ")
+    assert _xdist_worker_counts(windows_suite[0]) == ["4"]
+
+
+def _xdist_worker_counts(run: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Every worker count `run` passes to pytest-xdist, in order.
+
+    xdist takes the last of repeated `-n` options, so a pin has to see all of
+    them, in each spelling pytest accepts.
+    """
+    tokens = shlex.split(run)
+    counts: list[str] = []
+    for index, token in enumerate(tokens):
+        if token in ("-n", "--numprocesses"):
+            counts.append(tokens[index + 1] if index + 1 < len(tokens) else "")
+        elif token.startswith("--numprocesses="):
+            counts.append(token.partition("=")[2])
+        elif token.startswith("-n") and not token.startswith("--"):
+            counts.append(token[2:])
+    return counts
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("run", "counts"),
+    [
+        ("uv run pytest -n 4 -q", ["4"]),
+        ("uv run pytest -n 4 -q --ignore=tests/x.py -n 1", ["4", "1"]),
+        ("uv run pytest -n4 -q", ["4"]),
+        ("uv run pytest --numprocesses 4", ["4"]),
+        ("uv run pytest --numprocesses=4 -n 2", ["4", "2"]),
+        ("uv run pytest -q --no-header", []),
+    ],
+    ids=["spaced", "repeated", "attached", "long", "long-then-short", "none"],
+)
+def test_the_worker_count_check_sees_every_n_option(run: str, counts: list[str]) -> None:
+    assert _xdist_worker_counts(run) == counts
+
+
 def test_experimental_ty_job_is_honestly_advisory() -> None:
     job = _jobs(CI_WORKFLOW)["ty-experimental"]
     runs = _run_steps(job)
diff --git a/tests/test_platforms.py b/tests/test_platforms.py
index e62b6659d..d49675e30 100644
--- a/tests/test_platforms.py
+++ b/tests/test_platforms.py
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ def test_ci_workflow_defines_the_required_windows_test_job() -> None:
     assert "uv sync --locked --dev --all-extras" in runs
     audit_regression = "tests/core/test_audit.py::test_concurrent_appends_across_instances"
     full_suite = (
-        "uv run pytest -q --ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py"
+        "uv run pytest -n 4 -q --ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py"
         " --ignore=tests/test_docs_landing_behavior.py"
         f" --deselect={audit_regression}"
         " --randomly-seed=${{ github.run_id }}"
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ def test_ci_windows_docs_harness_runs_once_in_fresh_process() -> None:
         f"uv run pytest -p no:tach tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py {audit_regression} -q"
     )
     full_suite = (
-        "uv run pytest -q --ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py"
+        "uv run pytest -n 4 -q --ignore=tests/windows/test_native_terminal.py"
         " --ignore=tests/test_docs_landing_behavior.py"
         f" --deselect={audit_regression}"
         " --randomly-seed=${{ github.run_id }}"