diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 062126478..e8a14e7a5 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -35,12 +35,6 @@ commands =
 commands = sphinx-build -W -b html doc/source doc/build/html
 
 [testenv:api-ref]
-# This environment is called from CI scripts to test and publish
-# the API Ref to developer.openstack.org.
-# NOTE(sdague): this target does not use constraints because
-# upstream infra does not yet support it. Once that's fixed, we can
-# drop the install_command.
-install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 whitelist_externals = rm
 commands =
   rm -rf api-ref/build