diff --git a/bin/units b/bin/units
index fa0ea072b..0616cfc49 100755
--- a/bin/units
+++ b/bin/units
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@
 # see https://github.com/pelias/pelias/issues/744
 set -euo pipefail
 
-node test/unit/run.js | npx tap-dot
+PELIAS_CONFIG=./test/pelias-config-empty.json node test/unit/run.js | npx tap-dot
diff --git a/test/pelias-config-empty.json b/test/pelias-config-empty.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0967ef424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/pelias-config-empty.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{}