diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1d87440cd9..828413ddcf 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ variables:
   # In multithreaded unit tests, abort on the first failure
   CMOCKA_TEST_ABORT: 1
 
+  # Disable pytest's "cacheprovider" plugin to prevent it from creating
+  # cross-testrun files as there is no need to use that feature in CI.
+  PYTEST_ADDOPTS: "-p no:cacheprovider"
+
   # Default platforms to run "stress" tests on
   BIND_STRESS_TEST_OS: linux
   BIND_STRESS_TEST_ARCH: amd64
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/.gitignore b/bin/tests/system/.gitignore
index 82dbeafec9..525e889ba6 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/.gitignore
+++ b/bin/tests/system/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+.cache
 __pycache__
 dig.out*
 rndc.out*
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/rpzextra/clean.sh b/bin/tests/system/rpzextra/clean.sh
index 21d058a803..dbf193e5eb 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/rpzextra/clean.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/rpzextra/clean.sh
@@ -15,4 +15,3 @@ rm -f ns*/named.run
 rm -f ns*/rpz*.txt
 rm -rf __pycache__
 rm -f *.status
-rm -rf .cache
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/shutdown/clean.sh b/bin/tests/system/shutdown/clean.sh
index c161c2a33a..8c82e0ed6b 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/shutdown/clean.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/shutdown/clean.sh
@@ -15,4 +15,3 @@ rm -f */named.conf
 rm -f */named.run
 rm -rf __pycache__
 rm -f *.status
-rm -rf .cache
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/statschannel/.gitignore b/bin/tests/system/statschannel/.gitignore
index 44fb46c3c0..a348e5040c 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/statschannel/.gitignore
+++ b/bin/tests/system/statschannel/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
-/.cache/
 /__pycache__/
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/statschannel/clean.sh b/bin/tests/system/statschannel/clean.sh
index 6fbdc5c28d..2e13b1a9a5 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/statschannel/clean.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/statschannel/clean.sh
@@ -27,4 +27,4 @@ rm -f traffic traffic.out.* traffic.json.* traffic.xml.*
 rm -f xml.*mem json.*mem
 rm -f xml.*stats json.*stats
 rm -f zones zones.out.* zones.json.* zones.xml.* zones.expect.*
-rm -rf ./.cache ./__pycache__
+rm -rf ./__pycache__
diff --git a/bin/tests/system/timeouts/clean.sh b/bin/tests/system/timeouts/clean.sh
index b177285085..75fa7ecfd0 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/timeouts/clean.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/timeouts/clean.sh
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@ rm -f ./ns*/named.lock
 rm -f ./ns*/named.memstats
 rm -f ./ns*/named.run*
 rm -f ./ns*/named.stats
-rm -rf ./.cache ./__pycache__
+rm -rf ./__pycache__
 rm -f ./ns*/large.db