diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 8ff659e587..cd2e956db9 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ checkupdates_runner:
   script:
     # Get app IDs in this batch
     - |
+      declare -a metadata_files
       metadata_files=$( ls metadata/*.yml | sort -R )
       declare -a APPIDS
       for file in "${metadata_files[@]}"