diff --git a/bob/devtools/data/gitlab-ci/noarch.yaml b/bob/devtools/data/gitlab-ci/noarch.yaml
index 8187f1846704fe51d22dc60e1ef4f66e928e1ca4..a6ea13d3d0c22953dec59cdfa3c73d6af64fa2c1 100644
--- a/bob/devtools/data/gitlab-ci/noarch.yaml
+++ b/bob/devtools/data/gitlab-ci/noarch.yaml
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ stages:
     - curl --silent "${BOOTSTRAP}" --output "bootstrap.py"
     - python3 bootstrap.py -vv channel bdt
     - source ${CONDA_ROOT}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
+    # for conda inspect during builds (on macos)
+    - conda install -n base conda-build
     - conda activate bdt
     - bdt ci check -vv
   cache: