diff --git a/packages/wf-brainscales2-demos/package.py b/packages/wf-brainscales2-demos/package.py
index 74a3fcf7b34e5a708317fb452e8d4075cbb7710e..4999678ea9fa9363180de49557f038af53f89087 100644
--- a/packages/wf-brainscales2-demos/package.py
+++ b/packages/wf-brainscales2-demos/package.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 
 from spack import *
+import os
 
 
 class WfBrainscales2Demos(Package):
@@ -43,6 +44,11 @@ class WfBrainscales2Demos(Package):
     def installcheck(self):
         cmd_env = which("env")
         cmd_env()
+        # enable "EBRAINS lab" mode
+        os.environ["LAB_IMAGE_NAME"] = "EBRAINS"
+        # select "EBRAINS experimental" upstream experiment service
+        os.environ["LAB_KERNEL_NAME"] = "EBRAINS-experimental"
+        os.environ["JUPYTERHUB_USER"] = "spack-test-wf-brainscales2-demos"
         # execute notebook and save
         jupyter = Executable("jupyter")
         jupyter("nbconvert",