diff --git a/.github/actions/run-tests/action.yml b/.github/actions/run-tests/action.yml
index c0cca09bcb..7da533bf9d 100644
--- a/.github/actions/run-tests/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/run-tests/action.yml
@@ -80,9 +80,14 @@ runs:
 
     - name: Set MySQL table row format after migrations (safety check)
       if: ${{ inputs.testing-db == 'mysql' }}
-      working-directory: testing_mygame
       run: |
-        python -c "import os; import django; os.environ.setdefault('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'server.conf.settings'); django.setup(); from django.db import connection; cursor = connection.cursor(); cursor.execute(\"SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM information_schema.TABLES WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = DATABASE() AND ENGINE = 'InnoDB'\"); tables = [row[0] for row in cursor.fetchall()]; [cursor.execute(f'ALTER TABLE \`{table}\` ROW_FORMAT=DYNAMIC') or print(f'Set ROW_FORMAT=DYNAMIC for table {table}') for table in tables]"
+        mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u evennia -ppassword evennia -e "
+        SELECT CONCAT('ALTER TABLE \`', TABLE_NAME, '\` ROW_FORMAT=DYNAMIC;') AS stmt
+        FROM information_schema.TABLES
+        WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'evennia' AND ENGINE = 'InnoDB'
+        " | grep -v stmt | while read stmt; do
+          mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -u evennia -ppassword evennia -e "$stmt" 2>/dev/null || true
+        done
       shell: bash
 
     - name: Collect static files