diff --git a/workers/app/emitter.py b/workers/app/emitter.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 1d13fff7..00000000
--- a/workers/app/emitter.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-# vim: ai ts=4 sts=4 et sw=4 nu
-
-""" zmq relay tester: emmit random messages to the `internal` channel """
-
-import logging
-import os
-import random
-import time
-
-import zmq
-
-SOCKET_URI = os.getenv("SOCKET_URI", "tcp://192.168.1.13:5000")
-EVENTS = os.getenv("EVENTS", "requested-task,task-event").split(",")
-
-logger = logging.getLogger("emitter")
-
-if not logger.hasHandlers():
-    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
-    handler = logging.StreamHandler()
-    handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("[%(asctime)s: %(levelname)s] %(message)s"))
-    logger.addHandler(handler)
-
-
-def main():
-    context = zmq.Context()
-    socket = context.socket(zmq.PUB)
-
-    logger.info(f"connecting to {SOCKET_URI}…")
-    socket.connect(SOCKET_URI)
-
-    while True:
-        message = "{} {}".format(random.choice(EVENTS), random.randint(0, 1000))
-        logger.info(f"[SENDING] {message}")
-        socket.send_string(message)
-        time.sleep(random.randint(5, 20))
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    main()
diff --git a/workers/app/listener.py b/workers/app/listener.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 826d4335..00000000
--- a/workers/app/listener.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python3
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-# vim: ai ts=4 sts=4 et sw=4 nu
-
-""" zmq relay tester: listens to topic on relay's public channel """
-
-import logging
-import os
-
-import zmq
-
-SOCKET_URI = os.getenv("SOCKET_URI", "tcp://localhost:6000")
-EVENTS = os.getenv("EVENTS", "requested-task,task-event").split(",")
-logger = logging.getLogger("listener")
-
-if not logger.hasHandlers():
-    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
-    handler = logging.StreamHandler()
-    handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("[%(asctime)s: %(levelname)s] %(message)s"))
-    logger.addHandler(handler)
-
-
-def main():
-    context = zmq.Context()
-    socket = context.socket(zmq.SUB)
-
-    logger.info(f"connecting to {SOCKET_URI}…")
-    socket.connect(SOCKET_URI)
-    for event in EVENTS:
-        logger.debug(f"subscribing to topic `{event}`")
-        socket.setsockopt_string(zmq.SUBSCRIBE, event)
-
-    while True:
-        received_string = socket.recv_string()
-        logger.info(f"[INCOMING] {received_string}")
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    main()
diff --git a/workers/manager-requirements.txt b/workers/manager-requirements.txt
index f96c81c3..dcc9f275 100644
--- a/workers/manager-requirements.txt
+++ b/workers/manager-requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-zmq
 requests==2.31.0
 docker==7.0.0
 psutil==5.9.8