diff --git a/recipe/recipe.yaml b/recipe/recipe.yaml
index 022f37b..1bc2377 100644
--- a/recipe/recipe.yaml
+++ b/recipe/recipe.yaml
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ schema_version: 1
 context:
   name: katago
   version: 1.15.3
-  cuda: ${{ "true" if cuda_compiler_version != "None" else "false" }}
+  cuda: ${{ true if cuda_compiler_version != "None" else false }}
   cuda_build_string: cuda_${{ cuda_compiler_version | version_to_buildstring }}
-  string_prefix: ${{ cuda_build_string if cuda == "true" else "cpu_" }}
+  string_prefix: ${{ cuda_build_string if cuda else "cpu_" }}
 
 package:
   name: ${{ name|lower }}
@@ -23,19 +23,19 @@ package:
 build:
   number: 1
   skip:
-    # - cuda == "true" and win
-    - cuda == "true" and match(cuda_compiler_version, "<12")
+    # - cuda and win
+    - cuda and match(cuda_compiler_version, "<12")
   string: ${{ string_prefix }}h${{ hash }}_${{ build_number }}
   variant:
     use_keys:
       # use cuda from the variant config, e.g. to build multiple CUDA variants
-      - ${{ "cuda" if cuda == "true" }}
+      - ${{ "cuda" if cuda }}
     # this will down-prioritize the cuda variant versus other variants of the package
-    down_prioritize_variant: ${{ 1 if cuda == "true" else 0 }}
+    down_prioritize_variant: ${{ 1 if else 0 }}
 
 requirements:
   build:
-    - if: cuda == "true"
+    - if: cuda
       then:
         - ${{ compiler('cuda') }}
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ requirements:
     - curl
     - git
   host:
-    - if: cuda == "true"
+    - if: cuda
       then:
         - cuda-version ==${{ cuda_compiler_version }}
         - libcublas-dev
@@ -64,14 +64,19 @@ requirements:
 tests:
   - files:
       source:
-        - cpp/tests/
+        # NOTE: remove subfolder once we dont git clone during build
+        - katago/cpp/tests/
     script:
+
+      # NOTE: remove subfolder once we dont git clone during build
+      - cd katago
+
       - katago
       - katago version
 
       # fails some accuracy tests on osx
       - ${{ "katago runtests" if not osx }}
-      - ${{ "katago runnnlayertests" if cuda != "true" }}
+      - ${{ "katago runnnlayertests" if not cuda }}
 
       # run some tests that hopefully exercise the distributed code a bit as well
       # (based on searching "distributed" under cpp/tests and running the right portion)
@@ -81,13 +86,13 @@ tests:
           - cd cpp/
           - mkdir tests/scratch
           - katago runoutputtests
-          - ${{ "katago runtinynntests tests/scratch 1.0" if cuda != "true" }}
+          - ${{ "katago runtinynntests tests/scratch 1.0" if not cuda }}
 
       - if: win
         then:
           - cd cpp/
           - mkdir tests\scratch
-          - - ${{ "katago runtinynntests tests/scratch 1.0" if cuda != "true" }}
+          - - ${{ "katago runtinynntests tests/scratch 1.0" if not cuda }}
 
 about:
   summary: GTP engine and self-play learning in Go