diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 3ef6c592..ae96ae89 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ deps =
     lowest: falcon==4.1.0
     lowest: aiohttp==3.13.0
     lowest: marshmallow==3.13.0
+
+    # temporary pin: hold back `setuptools` so that `pyramid` testing works
+    # pyramid uses pkg_resources, which has been long deprecated and finally removed
+    #
+    # see https://github.com/Pylons/pyramid/issues/3731 for discussion within pyramid
+    setuptools < 82.0
 commands = pytest {posargs}
 
 [testenv:lint]