diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 9a15077fb7eeace4f1d41e21acfdfa8ec5b0dc09..ca75d28504c8233158afe9adc265e8ee8de71cb9 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ stress_test:
   script:
     - coverage run --append -m stress_tests
     - COOLAMQP_FORCE_SELECT_LISTENER=1 coverage run --append -m stress_tests
+  variables:
+    AMQP_HOST: "rabbitmq"
   after_script:
     - mv .coverage .coverage.stress
   artifacts:
@@ -21,18 +23,20 @@ stress_test:
 
 unittest:
   stage: test
-  image: python:3.11
+  image: python:3.11      # Default image might have already CoolAMQP installed
   services:
     - name: rabbitmq:3-management
       alias: rabbitmq
   before_script:
     - python setup.py install
-    - pip install --break-system-packages nose2 coverage
+    - pip install --break-system-packages nose2 coverage requests yapf
     - coverage run --append -m compile_definitions
   script:
     - coverage run --append -m nose2 -F -vv
   after_script:
     - mv .coverage .coverage.units
+  variables:
+    AMQP_HOST: "rabbitmq"
   artifacts:
     paths:
       - ".coverage.units"
diff --git a/stress_tests/settings.py b/stress_tests/settings.py
index 8e2badfa1ef5c8463f7e6aa748736aef3ad69afe..57424f46db7fd4210245eaa1d3915d217fa2cc86 100644
--- a/stress_tests/settings.py
+++ b/stress_tests/settings.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from coolamqp.objects import NodeDefinition
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-NODE = NodeDefinition(os.environ.get('AMQP_HOST', 'rabbitmq'), 'guest', 'guest', heartbeat=20)
+NODE = NodeDefinition(os.environ.get('AMQP_HOST', '127.0.0.1'), 'guest', 'guest', heartbeat=20)
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)