diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 97fbc0356e4304d5d95bffa4f70f4556803952ac..689efae97cd1bd81d476d7390c443acc634fb850 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -69,12 +69,13 @@ common:setup:
   stage: config
   before_script:
     - |
-      if [[ "${COMMON_BENCH_VERSION}" == "" ]] ; then
+      if [[ -z "${COMMON_BENCH_VERSION}" ]] ; then
         export COMMON_BENCH_VERSION="master" 
       fi
       echo "COMMON_BENCH_VERSION = ${COMMON_BENCH_VERSION}" 
-      git clone -b "${COMMON_BENCH_VERSION}" https://eicweb.phy.anl.gov/EIC/benchmarks/common_bench.git setup 
+      echo "COMMON_BENCH_VERSION=${COMMON_BENCH_VERSION}"  >> .env
   script:
+    - git clone -b "${COMMON_BENCH_VERSION}" https://eicweb.phy.anl.gov/EIC/benchmarks/common_bench.git setup 
     - source setup/bin/env.sh && ./setup/bin/install_common.sh
 
 common:detector: