diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index f81851900e6ce8cca2c2a9ff4f6af4e9a74badb5..0a85cecb50196256d7056313affb66cdf472abf9 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ variables:
   variables:
     COMMAND_OPTIONS_SBATCH: ${slurm_options}
     STACK_CONFIG: ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}/stacks/${stack}/config.json
-    STACK_LOCATION: $(jq -r .stack.mount_point ${STACK_CONFIG})
+    STACK_LOCATION: /stack
     APPTAINER_EXEC_OPTIONS: ${apptainer_options} --bind ${BUILDCACHE}:/buildcache:rw --bind ${CI_PROJECT_DIR}:${STACK_LOCATION}
     SPACK_USER_CACHE_PATH: "/tmp/spack_cache_${CI_JOB_ID}"
     SPACK_USER_CONFIG_PATH: "/tmp/spack_user_${CI_JOB_ID}"
@@ -54,17 +54,12 @@ variables:
   cache:
     key: ${environment}-spack-cache
     policy: pull-push
-    paths:
-      - spack/
-      - stack/
-      - stacks/${stack}/compiler_definitions.yaml
-
+    untracked: true
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 spack:checkout:
-  stage: environment
+  stage: .pre
   extends:
-    - .spack_cache
     - .parallel_definition
   before_script:
     - git config --global --add --bool advice.detachedHead false