diff --git a/gitlab/functions.sh b/gitlab/functions.sh
index 7c4c02a0199bd488193a185283f8be37de624d3c..3aa4a14819aff2bd1ffce44b2fec3180bda389f9 100644
--- a/gitlab/functions.sh
+++ b/gitlab/functions.sh
@@ -361,8 +361,13 @@ if [ -z "${DOCSERVER}" ]; then
   export_env DOCSERVER
 fi
 
-CONDA_CHANNEL="${DOCSERVER}/public/conda/label/main"
-CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL="${DOCSERVER}/private/conda"
+if [ -z "${CONDA_CHANNEL}" ]; then
+  CONDA_CHANNEL="${DOCSERVER}/public/conda/label/main"
+fi
+
+if [ -z "${CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL}" ]; then
+  CONDA_BETA_CHANNEL="${DOCSERVER}/private/conda"
+fi
 
 # Sets up the location of our rc file for conda
 CONDARC=${CONDA_ROOT}/condarc