diff --git a/test/test_connection.cpp b/test/test_connection.cpp
index 7921012ce61987c7d6582635d709184836f48bc2..dd39e10e38741ef89653d59dbd780d62921c1ac2 100644
--- a/test/test_connection.cpp
+++ b/test/test_connection.cpp
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ TEST(test_connection, connection_ssl_authentication_error_anonymous) {
   auto port = std::stoi(port_str);
   const auto *const host = linkahead::utility::get_env_fallback("CAOSDB_SERVER_HOST", "localhost");
   const auto path = linkahead::utility::get_env_fallback("CAOSDB_SERVER_CERT", std::string());
+  EXPECT_FALSE(path.empty()) << "CAOSDB_SERVER_CERT must be set to run this test.";
 
   auto cert = PemFileCertificateProvider(path);
   auto config = TlsConnectionConfiguration(host, port, cert);
@@ -95,6 +96,8 @@ TEST(test_connection, connection_ssl_authentication_error_wrong_credentials) {
   auto port = std::stoi(port_str);
   const auto *const host = linkahead::utility::get_env_fallback("CAOSDB_SERVER_HOST", "localhost");
   const auto path = linkahead::utility::get_env_fallback("CAOSDB_SERVER_CERT", std::string());
+  EXPECT_FALSE(path.empty()) << "CAOSDB_SERVER_CERT must be set to run this test.";
+
   const auto *const user = "not-a-user-23461237";
   const auto *const password = "very-c-cred";
 
@@ -115,6 +118,8 @@ TEST(test_connection, connection_ssl_authentication_error_wrong_certificate) {
   auto port = std::stoi(port_str);
   const auto *const host = linkahead::utility::get_env_fallback("CAOSDB_SERVER_HOST", "localhost");
   const auto path = linkahead::utility::get_env_fallback("CAOSDB_SERVER_CERT", std::string());
+  EXPECT_FALSE(path.empty()) << "CAOSDB_SERVER_CERT must be set to run this test.";
+
 
   // TODO (JTS): This is a hack. We should use the credentials in the linkahead-client.json
   const auto *const user = "admin";
@@ -150,12 +155,11 @@ X+F/0oljKZKJ2SswKDLztD0CY3VZhdDHfWlfIls1ttax4eEN1HgMtTyZ0JYdr9Iy
 Dbc8hkR8vIDcwFu31jiHx/BWmv+pjzx4F2qX7tgTG8wM3WHJwqzgrA1IeLliQpo6
 yVMsKq9927ZJXZbL/ewiA1Mm6IBe+SpJ8IafmUk=
 -----END CERTIFICATE-----)");
-  
+
   auto bad_config = TlsConnectionConfiguration(host, port, bad_cert, auth);
   auto bad_connection = Connection(bad_config);
   auto bad_status = bad_connection.RetrieveVersionInfoNoExceptions();
   EXPECT_EQ(bad_status.GetCode(), StatusCode::CONNECTION_ERROR);
-
 }
 
 TEST(test_connection, connection_ssl_authentication_success) {