diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 3280d626d49a97ab2b49671ea041887d02fa3050..caeefef7028cee7eed54729ead45042158c21eec 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ stages:
 
 variables:
   TEST_IMAGE: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE/test-image
-  TEST_IMAGE_WORKDIR: "/app"
+  TEST_IMAGE_WORKDIR: "app"
   # this line essentially disables TLS
   DOCKER_TLS_CERTDIR: ""