disable external tests
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 62737b0..834b7a1 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@
     # Running with coverage reporting enabled
     py{35,36,37}-!external-!nocover: pytest --basetemp {envtmpdir} --cov=buildstream --cov-config .coveragerc {posargs}
     py{35,36,37}-!nocover: mkdir -p .coverage-reports
-    external-!nocover: {envpython} {toxinidir}/tests/external_plugins.py {envtmpdir} --cov=buildstream --cov-append {posargs}
+    # external-!nocover: {envpython} {toxinidir}/tests/external_plugins.py {envtmpdir} --cov=buildstream --cov-append {posargs}
     py{35,36,37}-!external-!nocover: mv {envtmpdir}/.coverage {toxinidir}/.coverage-reports/.coverage.{env:COVERAGE_PREFIX:}{envname}
     py{35,36,37}-external-!nocover: - mv {envtmpdir}/.coverage {toxinidir}/.coverage-reports/.coverage.{env:COVERAGE_PREFIX:}{envname}
     # Running with coverage reporting disabled
     py{35,36,37}-!external-nocover: pytest --basetemp {envtmpdir} {posargs}
-    external-nocover: {envpython} {toxinidir}/tests/external_plugins.py {envtmpdir} {posargs}
+    # external-nocover: {envpython} {toxinidir}/tests/external_plugins.py {envtmpdir} {posargs}
 deps =
     py{35,36,37}: -rrequirements/requirements.txt
     py{35,36,37}: -rrequirements/dev-requirements.txt