diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index ef4484e09a..941e5822e8 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+variables:
+  XEN_REGISTRY: registry.gitlab.com/xen-project/xen
+
 workflow:
   rules:
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^(master|smoke|^coverity-tested\/.*|stable-.*)$/
diff --git a/automation/gitlab-ci/build.yaml b/automation/gitlab-ci/build.yaml
index ce39b0ee21..1ca6764225 100644
--- a/automation/gitlab-ci/build.yaml
+++ b/automation/gitlab-ci/build.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .build-tmpl: &build
   stage: build
-  image: registry.gitlab.com/xen-project/xen/${CONTAINER}
+  image: ${XEN_REGISTRY}/${CONTAINER}
   script:
     - ./automation/scripts/build 2>&1 | tee build.log
   artifacts:
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@
 
 .yocto-test:
   stage: build
-  image: registry.gitlab.com/xen-project/xen/${CONTAINER}
+  image: ${XEN_REGISTRY}/${CONTAINER}
   script:
     - ./automation/build/yocto/build-yocto.sh -v --log-dir=./logs --xen-dir=`pwd` ${YOCTO_BOARD} ${YOCTO_OUTPUT}
   variables:
diff --git a/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml b/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
index ab5c8be0cd..1822e3ea5f 100644
--- a/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
+++ b/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .test-jobs-common:
   stage: test
-  image: registry.gitlab.com/xen-project/xen/${CONTAINER}
+  image: ${XEN_REGISTRY}/${CONTAINER}
 
 .arm64-test-needs: &arm64-test-needs
   - alpine-3.18-arm64-rootfs-export