diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
index 7036c6cf2f..1d417829bd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/rust.yml
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: clean build dir
       run: rm -rf libsql-ffi/bundled/SQLite3MultipleCiphers/build
     - name: embedded replica encryption tests
-      run: cargo test -F test-encryption --package libsql-server --test tests embedded_replica
+      run: cargo xtask test-encryption
   windows:
     runs-on: windows-latest
     name: Windows checks
diff --git a/xtask/src/main.rs b/xtask/src/main.rs
index 4ee208e621..9655624f3c 100644
--- a/xtask/src/main.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/main.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ fn try_main() -> Result<()> {
         Some("build-wasm") => build_wasm(&arg)?,
         Some("sim-tests") => sim_tests(&arg)?,
         Some("test") => run_tests(&arg)?,
+        Some("test-encryption") => run_tests_encryption(&arg)?,
         Some("publish") => publish(&arg)?,
         _ => print_help(),
     }
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ build                  builds all languages
 build-wasm             builds the wasm components in wasm32-unknown-unknown
 build-bundled          builds sqlite3 and updates the bundeled code for ffi
 test                   runs the entire libsql test suite using nextest
+test-encryption        runs encryption tests for embedded replicas
 sim-tests <test name>  runs the libsql-server simulation test suite
 publish-cratesio       publish libsql client crates to crates.io
 "
@@ -81,6 +83,26 @@ fn run_tests(arg: &str) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn run_tests_encryption(arg: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    println!("installing nextest");
+    run_cargo(&["install", "--force", "cargo-nextest"])?;
+    println!("running nextest run");
+    run_cargo(&[
+        "nextest",
+        "run",
+        "-F",
+        "test-encryption",
+        "-p",
+        "libsql-server",
+        "--test",
+        "tests",
+        "embedded_replica",
+        arg,
+    ])?;
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 fn sim_tests(arg: &str) -> Result<()> {
     run_cargo(&["test", "--test", "tests", arg])?;