diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index d6e6e9bdf8b43d79b85e25d0a82a80320342c937..bfdb84f12cb6b3a15a1bf3a43e1203bd5c8f318f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ upload:
     - sed -i "s/0.0.1/$CI_COMMIT_TAG/g" cellxgene-hosting/Chart.yaml
     - CHART_NAME=$(helm show chart cellxgene-hosting | grep name | cut -d' ' -f2)
     - |
-      if [ "helm" == "${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}" ]; then
+      if [ "helm" == "${CI_COMMIT_BRANCH}" ]; then
         export CHANNEL="stable"
       else
-        export CHANNEL="${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}"
+        export CHANNEL="${CI_COMMIT_BRANCH}"
       fi
       echo $CHANNEL
     - helm package cellxgene-hosting