diff --git a/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py b/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py
index b7d530c45b..5232105a4d 100755
--- a/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py
+++ b/test/external/process_replay/process_replay.py
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 # compare kernels created by HEAD against master
-from collections import defaultdict
 import os, multiprocessing, logging, pickle, sqlite3, difflib, functools, warnings
 from typing import Callable, cast
 from tinygrad.helpers import VERSION, Context, ContextVar, colored, db_connection, getenv, tqdm
-from tinygrad.engine.schedule import ScheduleContext, schedule_uop
+from tinygrad.engine.schedule import create_schedule_with_vars
 from tinygrad.codegen.kernel import Kernel, Opt
 from tinygrad.renderer import Renderer
 from tinygrad.ops import UOp
@@ -30,9 +29,9 @@ class ProcessReplayWarning(Warning): pass
 
 # *** recreators
 
-def recreate_sched(ast:UOp) -> UOp:
-  # NOTE: process replay isn't meant to actually schedule anything
-  return schedule_uop(ast, ScheduleContext(tensor_uops=defaultdict(list)), {}).ast
+def recreate_sched(big_sink:UOp) -> list[UOp]:
+  sched, _, __ = create_schedule_with_vars(big_sink)
+  return [x.ast for x in sched]
 def recreate_kernel(ast:UOp, opts:Renderer, applied_opts:list[Opt], name:str) -> str:
   k = Kernel(ast, opts=opts)
   for opt in applied_opts: k.apply_opt(opt)
@@ -42,7 +41,8 @@ def recreate_kernel(ast:UOp, opts:Renderer, applied_opts:list[Opt], name:str) ->
 # *** diff a "good" recreation against the generated version
 
 def diff(offset:int, name:str, fxn:Callable) -> None:
-  if ASSERT_DIFF: warnings.filterwarnings("error", category=ProcessReplayWarning)
+  # TODO: add this assert back for schedule
+  if ASSERT_DIFF and name != "schedule": warnings.filterwarnings("error", category=ProcessReplayWarning)
   if early_stop.is_set(): return None
   conn = db_connection()
   cur = conn.cursor()
diff --git a/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py b/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py
index c773a0c34f..18735ff53a 100644
--- a/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py
+++ b/tinygrad/engine/schedule.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import sys, atexit, functools, pickle
+import sys, functools
 from collections import defaultdict, deque
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from tinygrad.ops import UOp, Variable, Ops, GroupOp, PatternMatcher, UPat, graph_rewrite, graph_rewrite_map, track_rewrites, buffers
@@ -396,17 +396,8 @@ def schedule_uop(pre:UOp, ctx:ScheduleContext, var_vals:dict[UOp, int]) -> Sched
           # otherwise, it's not fine
           else: raise RuntimeError("self operand of augmented assign must be contiguous.\nhelp: consider using .contiguous():\n"
                                    +colored("   - a += a.T\n", "red")+colored("   + a += a.T.contiguous()", "green"))
-  # capture process replay
-  if CAPTURE_PROCESS_REPLAY:
-    with Context(PICKLE_BUFFERS=0): PROCESS_REPLAY_CAPTURE[str(pre.key)] = pickle.dumps((pre, ContextVar._cache, ast))
   return ScheduleItem(ast, tuple(u.buffer for u in si_ctx.bufs), tuple(dedup(m for x in pre.toposort if (m:=ctx.ops_metadata.get(x)) is not None)))
 
-PROCESS_REPLAY_CAPTURE: dict[str, bytes] = {}
-if CAPTURE_PROCESS_REPLAY:
-  @atexit.register
-  def save_process_replay() -> None:
-    for k,v in PROCESS_REPLAY_CAPTURE.items(): diskcache_put("schedule_process_replay", k, v, prepickled=True)
-
 # **** schedule creation and toposort
 
 @track_rewrites(named=True)
@@ -473,4 +464,8 @@ def create_schedule_with_vars(big_sink:UOp) -> tuple[list[ScheduleItem], dict[Va
   # confirm everything was scheduled correctly
   if len(schedule) != (groups:=len(prescheduled)): raise RuntimeError(f"cycle detected in graph, grouped {groups} but only scheduled {len(schedule)}")
   if DEBUG >= 1 and len(schedule) >= 10: print(f"scheduled {len(schedule)} kernels")
+  # capture process replay
+  if CAPTURE_PROCESS_REPLAY:
+    with Context(PICKLE_BUFFERS=0):
+      diskcache_put("schedule_process_replay", str(big_sink.key), (big_sink, ContextVar._cache, [x.ast for x in schedule]))
   return schedule, var_vals, becomes_map