diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 9265bcf..8d64d29 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ on:
       - "main"
   workflow_dispatch:
 
+env:
+  CODECOV_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
+
 jobs:
   spec:
     strategy:
@@ -18,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
           - ruby-version: '2.7'
             puppet_gem_version: '~> 7.0'
           - ruby_version: '3.2'
-            puppet_gem_version: 'https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet' # puppet8'
+            puppet_gem_version: '~> 8.0' # puppet8'
         runs_on:
           - "ubuntu-latest"
           - "windows-latest"
@@ -26,6 +29,7 @@ jobs:
     uses: "puppetlabs/cat-github-actions/.github/workflows/gem_ci.yml@main"
     secrets: "inherit"
     with:
+      rake_task: "spec:coverage"
       ruby_version: ${{ matrix.ruby_version }}
       puppet_gem_version: ${{ matrix.puppet_gem_version }}
       runs_on: ${{ matrix.runs_on }}
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index f589475..4236dd2 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -7,6 +7,15 @@ RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new(:spec) do |t|
   t.pattern = 'spec/unit/**/*_spec.rb'
 end
 
+namespace :spec do
+  desc 'Run RSpec code examples with coverage collection'
+  task :coverage do
+      ENV['COVERAGE'] = 'yes'
+      Rake::Task['spec'].execute
+  end
+end
+
+
 RSpec::Core::RakeTask.new(:acceptance) do |t|
   t.pattern = 'spec/acceptance/**/*_spec.rb'
 end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index e61678d..945b898 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,16 +1,20 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-if ENV['SIMPLECOV'] == 'yes'
+if ENV['COVERAGE'] == 'yes'
   begin
     require 'simplecov'
     require 'simplecov-console'
-    require 'codecov'
 
     SimpleCov.formatters = [
       SimpleCov::Formatter::HTMLFormatter,
-      SimpleCov::Formatter::Console,
-      SimpleCov::Formatter::Codecov
+      SimpleCov::Formatter::Console
     ]
+
+    if ENV['CI'] == 'true'
+      require 'codecov'
+      SimpleCov.formatters << SimpleCov::Formatter::Codecov
+    end
+
     SimpleCov.start do
       track_files 'lib/**/*.rb'
       add_filter '/spec'
@@ -21,14 +25,6 @@
 
       # do not track version file, as it is loaded before simplecov initialises and therefore is never gonna be tracked correctly
       add_filter 'lib/puppet/modulebuilder/version.rb'
-
-      # do not track gitignored files
-      # this adds about 4 seconds to the coverage check
-      # this could definitely be optimized
-      add_filter do |f|
-        # system returns true if exit status is 0, which with git-check-ignore means file is ignored
-        system("git check-ignore --quiet #{f.filename}")
-      end
     end
   rescue LoadError
     raise 'Add the simplecov, simplecov-console, codecov gems to Gemfile to enable this task'