diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml b/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml
index 8d86f5c730e7cbe8ce08ad1b2657d8839a22159c..742a59dabaed22f690309e42bfdaa3e735b7d812 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ deploy:
    - apt-get -y install postgresql-client
    # use the example env for tests
    - cp .env.example .env
+   - echo "INSTANCE_NAME=elife" >> .env
     
 test-chrome:
   <<: *run_test_template