diff --git a/templates/github/.github/workflows/scripts/script.sh.j2 b/templates/github/.github/workflows/scripts/script.sh.j2
index fc4e5234..63b850f8 100755
--- a/templates/github/.github/workflows/scripts/script.sh.j2
+++ b/templates/github/.github/workflows/scripts/script.sh.j2
@@ -156,6 +156,8 @@ fi
 {%- if test_cli %}
 {%- if docker_fixtures %}
 export PULP_FIXTURES_URL="http://pulp-fixtures:8080"
+# some pulp-cli tests use the api root envvar
+export PULP_API_ROOT="$(EDITOR=cat pulp config edit 2>/dev/null | awk -F'"' '/api_root/{print $2; exit}')"
 {%- endif %}
 pushd ../{{ cli_package }}
 pip install -r test_requirements.txt