diff --git a/tests/platform-ci/ci-build.sh b/tests/platform-ci/ci-build.sh
index 34876a73e81aa5e7c829503bf5804d8df6c6e482..e2485c0adcf78caafe1d1910de7a3ece006d0b97 100755
--- a/tests/platform-ci/ci-build.sh
+++ b/tests/platform-ci/ci-build.sh
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ else
   }
 fi
 
+fail() {
+  echo "$*"
+  exit 1
+}
+
 deploy() {
   LEAP_CMD deploy "$TAG"
 }
@@ -73,6 +78,11 @@ build_from_scratch() {
 
   # Dsiable xtrace
   set +x
+
+  [ -z "$AWS_ACCESS_KEY" ]  && fail "\$AWS_ACCESS_KEY  is not set - please provide it as env variable."
+  [ -z "$AWS_SECRET_KEY" ]  && fail "\$AWS_SECRET_KEY  is not set - please provide it as env variable."
+  [ -z "$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" ] && fail "\$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY is not set - please provide it as env variable."
+
   /usr/bin/jq ".platform_ci.auth |= .+ {\"aws_access_key_id\":\"$AWS_ACCESS_KEY\", \"aws_secret_access_key\":\"$AWS_SECRET_KEY\"}" < cloud.json.template > cloud.json
   # Enable xtrace again only if it was set at beginning of script
   [[ $xtrace == true ]] && set -x