diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 3bd2346631011bda7a42ca28a3295f876ce7b80f..90f355640df10a63820ffefa29187c058cc00035 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ default:
 stages:
   - prepare
   - lint
-  # check if this needs to be a separate step
-  # - build_extensions
   - test
   - package
   - integration
@@ -47,11 +45,6 @@ run_pylint:
     - tox -e pylint
   allow_failure: true
 
-# build_extensions:
-#   stage: build_extensions
-#   script:
-#     - echo "build fortran/c/cpp extension source code"
-
 # Basic setup for all Python versions for which we don't have a base image
 .run_unit_test_version_base:
   before_script:
@@ -91,25 +84,29 @@ package_files:
     paths:
       - dist/*
   script:
-    - tox -e build
+    - tox -e build-ci-linux
 
 package_docs:
   stage: package
+  allow_failure: true
   artifacts:
     expire_in: 1w
     paths:
       - docs/* # update path to match the dest dir for documentation
   script:
     - echo "build and collect docs"
+    - exit 1
 
 run_integration_tests:
   stage: integration
+  allow_failure: true
   needs:
     - package_files
   script:
     - echo "make sure to move out of source dir"
     - echo "install package from filesystem (or use the artefact)"
     - echo "run against foreign systems (e.g. databases, cwl etc.)"
+    - exit 1
 
 publish_on_gitlab:
   stage: publish
@@ -163,6 +160,7 @@ publish_on_pypi:
 
 publish_to_readthedocs:
   stage: publish
+  allow_failure: true
   environment: readthedocs
   needs:
     - package_docs
@@ -171,3 +169,4 @@ publish_to_readthedocs:
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_TAG
   script:
     - echo "scp docs/* ???"
+    - exit 1