diff --git a/packages/gatsby/gatsby-node.js b/packages/gatsby/gatsby-node.js
index f2c7c4c49577..f8a6a74ad885 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/gatsby-node.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby/gatsby-node.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const sentryRelease = JSON.stringify(
     process.env.ZEIT_GITHUB_COMMIT_SHA ||
     process.env.ZEIT_GITLAB_COMMIT_SHA ||
     process.env.ZEIT_BITBUCKET_COMMIT_SHA ||
-    '',
+    undefined,
 );
 
 const sentryDsn = JSON.stringify(process.env.SENTRY_DSN || '');
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/package.json b/packages/gatsby/package.json
index 271c1f2d8adf..32782ff1b1a6 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/package.json
+++ b/packages/gatsby/package.json
@@ -86,7 +86,10 @@
         "tsConfig": "./tsconfig.json",
         "diagnostics": false
       }
-    }
+    },
+    "setupFiles": [
+      "<rootDir>/test/setEnvVars.ts"
+    ]
   },
   "sideEffects": false
 }
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/test/gatsby-node.test.ts b/packages/gatsby/test/gatsby-node.test.ts
index df03d29817dc..f09f8e5be781 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/test/gatsby-node.test.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/test/gatsby-node.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 /* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires */
 /* eslint-disable @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any */
-
 const { onCreateWebpackConfig } = require('../gatsby-node');
 
 describe('onCreateWebpackConfig', () => {
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/test/setEnvVars.ts b/packages/gatsby/test/setEnvVars.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c97579e924e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/gatsby/test/setEnvVars.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any, @typescript-eslint/no-unsafe-member-access
+process.env.SENTRY_RELEASE = '14abbb1678a2eb59d1a171ea33d630dd6c6eee70';