diff --git a/taskcluster/ci/tests/kind.yml b/taskcluster/ci/tests/kind.yml
index 025aeaaf..c3a19825 100644
--- a/taskcluster/ci/tests/kind.yml
+++ b/taskcluster/ci/tests/kind.yml
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ jobs:
         description: "Run `unit tests` to validate the latest changes"
         treeherder:
             symbol: unit
+        worker:
+            env:
+                # fail instead of skipping tests due to missing information
+                NO_TEST_SKIP: 1
         run:
             command: [python, setup.py, test]
     flake8:
diff --git a/tcadmin/tests/test_util_scopes.py b/tcadmin/tests/test_util_scopes.py
index da755408..f97c0dd9 100644
--- a/tcadmin/tests/test_util_scopes.py
+++ b/tcadmin/tests/test_util_scopes.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 import taskcluster
+import os
 
 from tcadmin.util.scopes import Resolver, satisfies
 from tcadmin.resources import Role, Resources
@@ -225,6 +226,14 @@ def test_normalizeScopes_with_stars():
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="module")
 def auth():
+    # tests using this fixture need *some* auth service, but it actually
+    # doesn't matter which one
+    if "TASKCLUSTER_ROOT_URL" not in os.environ:
+        msg = "TASKCLUSTER_ROOT_URL not set"
+        if "NO_TEST_SKIP" in os.environ:
+            pytest.fail(msg)
+        else:
+            pytest.skip(msg)
     return taskcluster.Auth(taskcluster.optionsFromEnvironment())