diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 54db6f5355a4a02f730aa96156e69f0dcde0f3ff..2c461f5a2d45731d4f76942f6c93754117462131 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ cache:
   paths:
     - .cache/pip
 
-
 .config_freva: &config_freva
   image: ghcr.io/freva-clint/freva-dev:latest
   tags:
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ cache:
     - conda clean -a -y
     - pip install pytest
     - conda config --set channel_priority strict
-    - conda install --override-channels --channel conda-forge -y pandoc graphviz wget zip git git-lfs cdo nco jq freva
+    - conda install --override-channels --channel conda-forge -y pandoc graphviz wget zip git git-lfs cdo=2.2.2 nco=5.0.6 jq freva
     - git lfs install
     # ensure cdo and nco are up
     - cdo --version