diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml b/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml
index d830a4655fb4e8a447c85d3193e5c119c5578607..742a59dabaed22f690309e42bfdaa3e735b7d812 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.elife.yml
@@ -80,20 +80,22 @@ deploy:
     PGPASSWORD: kotahidev
   services:
     - postgres
-  script:
-    - cd ${HOME}
-    - apt-get -y install postgresql-client
-    # this is needed for pgboss initial setup
-    #- psql -h postgres -U kotahidev -d kotahidev -c "create extension pgcrypto;"
-    # use the example env for tests
-    - cp .env.example .env
-    # specify host here else it confuses the linked postgres image
-    - POSTGRES_HOST=postgres yarn test:all:$TEST_ITEM
+
+.script_templ: &run_script_templ
+   - cd ${HOME}
+   - 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
-  variables:
-    TEST_ITEM: "chrome:elife"
+  script:
+    - *run_script_templ
+    # this is needed for pgboss initial setup
+    - psql -h postgres -U kotahidev -d kotahidev -c "create extension pgcrypto;"
+    # specify host here else it confuses the linked postgres image
+    - POSTGRES_HOST=postgres yarn test:all:chrome:elife
 
 # test-chrome:
 #   image: $IMAGE_ORG/$IMAGE_NAME-dev:$CI_COMMIT_SHA