diff --git a/.config/dictionary.txt b/.config/dictionary.txt
index 8eb0f19ec..aa774f21c 100644
--- a/.config/dictionary.txt
+++ b/.config/dictionary.txt
@@ -1,10 +1,30 @@
+ALS
+Anson
+Containerfile
+Dockal
+FQCN
+FQCNs
+Florian
+Launay
+Maciążek
+OSTYPE
+Ondrej
+PYTHONBREAKPOINT
+PYTHONHOME
+Pinkney
+Pyenv
+Sbarnea
+Schwalm
+Sorin
+TLDR
+Testenvs
+Tomasz
+Webviews
 aarch
 ajinkyau
 akira
 alefragnani
 alphanums
-ALS
-Anson
 autofix
 autoupdate
 backticks
@@ -18,18 +38,17 @@ codespell
 codicon
 codicons
 commitlint
-Containerfile
 contentmatch
 contentmatches
 copyfiles
 cygwin
+cython
 dbaeumer
 dedupe
 depcheck
 deps
 devel
 direnv
-Dockal
 dpkg
 eamodio
 endgroup
@@ -39,9 +58,6 @@ eqeqeq
 esbenp
 extest
 fgierlinger
-Florian
-FQCN
-FQCNs
 fredericgiquel
 ganeshrn
 githubcli
@@ -55,14 +71,12 @@ jeinwag
 johndoe
 keyfile
 keyrings
-Launay
 lextudio
 libyaml
 lightspeed
 liveserver
 loglevel
 lxml
-Maciążek
 markdownlint
 maxlength
 mochawesome
@@ -73,12 +87,9 @@ myuser
 noheading
 npmrc
 nsible
-Ondrej
-OSTYPE
 overridable
 ovsx
 parseable
-Pinkney
 piptools
 pipx
 precheck
@@ -87,20 +98,14 @@ preinstall
 priyamsahoo
 projectuser
 prsahoo
-Pyenv
 pyparsing
-PYTHONBREAKPOINT
-PYTHONHOME
 reindent
 reindented
 relogin
 ritwickdey
 rulebooks
-Sbarnea
-Schwalm
 showformat
 simplejson
-Sorin
 sourcemaps
 ssbarnea
 ssydoren
@@ -108,14 +113,11 @@ stopendy
 suboptions
 sysninja
 taskfile
-Testenvs
 testenv
 testhost
 testorg
 timonwong
-TLDR
 tomaciazek
-Tomasz
 towerhost
 tsbuildinfo
 tsdoc
@@ -130,7 +132,6 @@ vscoss
 vsix
 vyos
 watsonx
-Webviews
 webknjaz
 webpacked
 whitespaces
diff --git a/.config/requirements.in b/.config/requirements.in
index 776b06ef2..aaa89c230 100644
--- a/.config/requirements.in
+++ b/.config/requirements.in
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+cython>=3.0.5; python_version >= "3.12"
 ansible-core>=2.13.0
 ansible-lint>=6.8.7
 mypy # used by vscode
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 1eb161c0c..8da5115e1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -99,14 +99,14 @@ jobs:
             ~/.cache/yarn
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.task-name }}-${{ hashFiles('package.json', 'yarn.lock', '.config/requirements.txt', 'tools/*.*') }}
 
-      - name: Enable caching for podman-machine
-        if: "contains(matrix.os, 'macos')"
-        uses: actions/cache@v3
-        with:
-          path: |
-            ~/.local/share/containers
-            ~/.config/containers
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.task-name }}-${{ hashFiles('package.json', 'yarn.lock', '.config/requirements.txt', '**/Taskfile.yml', 'tools/*.*') }}
+      # - name: Enable caching for podman-machine
+      #   if: "contains(matrix.os, 'macos')"
+      #   uses: actions/cache@v3
+      #   with:
+      #     path: |
+      #       ~/.local/share/containers
+      #       ~/.config/containers
+      #     key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.task-name }}-${{ hashFiles('package.json', 'yarn.lock', '.config/requirements.txt', '**/Taskfile.yml', 'tools/*.*') }}
 
       - name: Use NodeJS v18
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 9adc216ee..de972b202 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ CHANGELOG.html
 !.yarn/versions
 .DS_Store
 .direnv
+.tool-versions
diff --git a/tools/test-setup.sh b/tools/test-setup.sh
index 1188377cd..461790929 100755
--- a/tools/test-setup.sh
+++ b/tools/test-setup.sh
@@ -20,6 +20,16 @@ mkdir -p out/log
 # we do not want pip logs from previous runs
 : >"${PIP_LOG_FILE}"
 
+timed() {
+  local start
+  start=$(date +%s)
+  local exit_code
+  exit_code=0
+  "$@" || exit_code=$?
+  echo >&2 "took ~$(($(date +%s)-start)) seconds. exited with ${exit_code}"
+  return $exit_code
+}
+
 # Function to retrieve the version number for a specific command. If a second
 # argument is passed, it will be used as return value when tool is missing.
 get_version() {
@@ -59,6 +69,16 @@ log() {
     echo >&2 -e "${prefix}${2}${NC}"
 }
 
+is_podman_running() {
+    if [[ "$(podman machine ls --format '{{.Name}} {{.Running}}' --noheading 2>/dev/null)" == *"podman-machine-default* true"* ]]; then
+        log notice "Podman machine is running."
+        return 0
+    else
+        log error "Podman machine is not running."
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
 if [ ! -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
     log warning "Creating missing ~/.local/bin"
     mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
@@ -321,16 +341,16 @@ log notice "Podman checks..."
 if [[ "${OSTYPE:-}" == darwin* && "${SKIP_PODMAN:-}" != '1' ]]; then
     command -v podman >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
         log notice "Installing podman..."
-        HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1 time brew install podman
+        HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=1 timed brew install podman
     }
     log notice "Configuring podman machine ($MACHTYPE)..."
-    podman machine ls --noheading | grep '\*' || {
+    podman machine ls --noheading | grep '\*' >/dev/null || {
         log warning "Podman machine not found, creating and starting one ($MACHTYPE)..."
-        time podman machine init --now || log warning "Ignored init failure due to possible https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/13609 but we will check again later."
+        timed podman machine init --now || log warning "Ignored init failure due to possible https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/13609 but we will check again later."
     }
     podman machine ls --noheading
     log notice "Checking status of podman machine ($MACHTYPE)..."
-    podman machine ls --format '{{.Name}} {{.Running}}' --noheading | grep podman-machine-default | grep true || {
+    is_podman_running || {
         log warning "Podman machine not running, trying to start it..."
         # do not use full path as it varies based on architecture
         # https://github.com/containers/podman/issues/10824#issuecomment-1162392833
@@ -340,13 +360,16 @@ if [[ "${OSTYPE:-}" == darwin* && "${SKIP_PODMAN:-}" != '1' ]]; then
         else
             qemu-system-aarch64 -machine q35,accel=hvf:tcg -cpu host -display none INVALID_OPTION || true
         fi
+        podman machine start
+        # Waiting for machine to become available
         n=0
-        until [ "$n" -ge 5 ]; do
-            log warning "Trying to start podman machine again ($n)..."
-            time podman machine start && break  # substitute your command here
+        until [ "$n" -ge 9 ]; do
+            log warning "Still waiting for podman machine to become available $((n * 15))s ..."
+            is_podman_running && break
             n=$((n+1))
             sleep 15
         done
+        is_podman_running
         }
     # validation is done later
     podman info
@@ -359,12 +382,14 @@ PODMAN_VERSION="$(get_version podman || echo null)"
 if [[ "${PODMAN_VERSION}" != 'null' ]] && [[ "${SKIP_PODMAN:-}" != '1' ]]; then
     log notice "Pull our test container image with podman."
     podman pull --quiet "${IMAGE}" >/dev/null
-    # without running we will never be sure it works (no arm64 image yet)
+    # without running we will never be sure it works
+    log notice "Retrieving ansible version from ee"
     EE_ANSIBLE_VERSION=$(get_version \
         podman run "${IMAGE}" ansible --version)
+    log notice "Retrieving ansible-lint version from ee"
     EE_ANSIBLE_LINT_VERSION=$(get_version \
         podman run "${IMAGE}" ansible-lint --nocolor --version)
-    # Test podman ability to mount current folder with write access, default mount options
+    log notice "Test podman ability to mount current folder with write access, default mount options"
     podman run -v "$PWD:$PWD" ghcr.io/ansible/creator-ee:latest \
         bash -c "[ -w $PWD ] && echo 'Mounts working' || { echo 'Mounts not working. You might need to either disable or make selinux permissive.'; exit 1; }"
 fi