diff --git a/deployment/docker-compose.yml b/deployment/docker-compose.yml
index 87fb0f4f7a..4b67440c2c 100755
--- a/deployment/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/deployment/docker-compose.yml
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ services:
       MERLIN_GRAPHQL_URL: http://hasura:8080/v1/graphql
       AERIE_DB_HOST: postgres
       AERIE_DB_PORT: 5432
-      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES}"
-      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN}"
+      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES:-}"
+      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN:-}"
       ACTION_DB_USER: "${SEQUENCING_USERNAME}"
       ACTION_DB_PASSWORD: "${SEQUENCING_PASSWORD}"
       ACTION_LOCAL_STORE: /usr/src/app/action_file_store
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 4a7cb5ed18..a3ef6a750f 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ services:
       MERLIN_GRAPHQL_URL: http://hasura:8080/v1/graphql
       AERIE_DB_HOST: postgres
       AERIE_DB_PORT: 5432
-      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES}"
-      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN}"
+      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES:-}"
+      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN:-}"
       ACTION_DB_USER: "${SEQUENCING_USERNAME}"
       ACTION_DB_PASSWORD: "${SEQUENCING_PASSWORD}"
       ACTION_LOCAL_STORE: /usr/src/app/action_file_store
diff --git a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml
index 851e0ce55a..c2d47bd65c 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml
+++ b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-many-workers.yml
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ services:
       ACTION_SERVER_PORT: 27186
       AERIE_DB_HOST: postgres
       AERIE_DB_PORT: 5432
-      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES}"
-      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN}"
+      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES:-}"
+      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN:-}"
       ACTION_DB_USER: "${SEQUENCING_USERNAME}"
       ACTION_DB_PASSWORD: "${SEQUENCING_PASSWORD}"
       ACTION_LOCAL_STORE: /usr/src/app/action_file_store
diff --git a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml
index 03275f2e87..e6f4a72e1c 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml
+++ b/e2e-tests/docker-compose-test.yml
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ services:
       MERLIN_GRAPHQL_URL: http://hasura:8080/v1/graphql
       AERIE_DB_HOST: postgres
       AERIE_DB_PORT: 5432
-      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES}"
-      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN}"
+      ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES: "${ACTION_COOKIE_NAMES:-}"
+      ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN: "${ACTION_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGIN:-}"
       ACTION_DB_USER: "${SEQUENCING_USERNAME}"
       ACTION_DB_PASSWORD: "${SEQUENCING_PASSWORD}"
       ACTION_LOCAL_STORE: /usr/src/app/action_file_store