diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-iov.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-iov.yml
index e8a3c4058..8329efa79 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-iov.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-iov.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           echo ZKSYNC_HOME=$(pwd) >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo $(pwd)/bin >> $GITHUB_PATH
+      
+      # dev.env file is required before running zk init
+      - name: create-empty-dev-file
+        run: |
+          touch $ZKSYNC_HOME/etc/env/dev.env
 
       - name: start-services
         run: |
diff --git a/docker-compose.ci.yml b/docker-compose.ci.yml
index 802c9a707..795458408 100644
--- a/docker-compose.ci.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.ci.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ services:
   dev-ticker:
     image: "rsksmart/rollup-dev-ticker:1.1.2-beta"
     env_file:
-      - ./etc/env/${ZKSYNC_ENV-deploy}.env # default to deploy instead of dev.env, since dev.env is not versioned
+      - ./etc/env/dev.env
       - ./etc/env/docker.env
     environment:
       - ZKSYNC_HOME=/