diff --git a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestDiscordProvider.cs b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestDiscordProvider.cs
index f4457c285e..cdc30c888e 100644
--- a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestDiscordProvider.cs
+++ b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestDiscordProvider.cs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
 using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
 using Moq;
 
+using Tgstation.Server.Api.Models;
 using Tgstation.Server.Host.Jobs;
 using Tgstation.Server.Host.Models;
 using Tgstation.Server.Host.System;
@@ -83,6 +84,9 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Host.Components.Chat.Providers.Tests
 			if (testToken1 == null)
 				Assert.Inconclusive("Required environment variable TGS_TEST_DISCORD_TOKEN isn't set!");
 
+			if (!new DiscordConnectionStringBuilder(testToken1.ConnectionString).Valid)
+				Assert.Fail("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_TOKEN is not a valid Discord connection string!");
+
 			var mockLogger = new Mock<ILogger<DiscordProvider>>();
 			await using var provider = new DiscordProvider(mockJobManager, Mock.Of<IAsyncDelayer>(), mockLogger.Object, Mock.Of<IAssemblyInformationProvider>(), testToken1);
 			Assert.IsFalse(provider.Connected);
diff --git a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestIrcProvider.cs b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestIrcProvider.cs
index 2e8921a6a2..b11b0ea074 100644
--- a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestIrcProvider.cs
+++ b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Host.Tests/Components/Chat/Providers/TestIrcProvider.cs
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Host.Components.Chat.Providers.Tests
 			if (actualToken == null)
 				Assert.Inconclusive("Required environment variable TGS_TEST_IRC_CONNECTION_STRING isn't set!");
 
+			if (!new IrcConnectionStringBuilder(actualToken).Valid)
+				Assert.Fail("TGS_TEST_IRC_CONNECTION_STRING is not a valid IRC connection string!");
+
 			using var loggerFactory = LoggerFactory.Create(builder =>
 			{
 				builder.AddConsole();
diff --git a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/Instance/ChatTest.cs b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/Instance/ChatTest.cs
index 984c2e9f2c..c7e9944f7b 100644
--- a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/Instance/ChatTest.cs
+++ b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/Instance/ChatTest.cs
@@ -41,9 +41,22 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Tests.Live.Instance
 
 		async Task RunIrc(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
 		{
+			var connectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_IRC_CONNECTION_STRING");
+			if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(connectionString))
+				// needs to just be valid
+				connectionString = new IrcConnectionStringBuilder
+				{
+					Address = "irc.fake.com",
+					Nickname = "irc_nick",
+					Password = "some_pw",
+					PasswordType = IrcPasswordType.Server,
+					Port = 6668,
+					UseSsl = true,
+				}.ToString();
+
 			var firstBotReq = new ChatBotCreateRequest
 			{
-				ConnectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_IRC_CONNECTION_STRING"),
+				ConnectionString = connectionString,
 				Enabled = false,
 				Name = "tgs_integration_test",
 				Provider = ChatProvider.Irc,
@@ -86,6 +99,8 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Tests.Live.Instance
 			await WaitForJob(reconnectJob, 60, false, null, cancellationToken);
 
 			var channelId = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_IRC_CHANNEL");
+			if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(channelId))
+				channelId = "#botbus";
 
 			updatedBot = await chatClient.Update(new ChatBotUpdateRequest
 			{
@@ -122,14 +137,20 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Tests.Live.Instance
 
 		async Task RunDiscord(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
 		{
+			var connectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_TOKEN");
+			if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(connectionString))
+				// needs to just be valid
+				connectionString = new DiscordConnectionStringBuilder
+				{
+					BasedMeme = true,
+					BotToken = "some_token",
+					DeploymentBranding = true,
+					DMOutputDisplay = DiscordDMOutputDisplayType.Never,
+				}.ToString();
+
 			var firstBotReq = new ChatBotCreateRequest
 			{
-				ConnectionString =
-					new DiscordConnectionStringBuilder
-					{
-						BotToken = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_TOKEN"),
-						DMOutputDisplay = DiscordDMOutputDisplayType.OnError
-					}.ToString(),
+				ConnectionString = connectionString,
 				Enabled = false,
 				Name = "r4407",
 				Provider = ChatProvider.Discord,
@@ -171,7 +192,11 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Tests.Live.Instance
 			Assert.IsNotNull(reconnectJob);
 			await WaitForJob(reconnectJob, 60, false, null, cancellationToken);
 
-			var channelId = ulong.Parse(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_CHANNEL"));
+			var channelIdStr = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_CHANNEL");
+			if (String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(channelIdStr))
+				channelIdStr = "487268744419344384";
+
+			var channelId = ulong.Parse(channelIdStr);
 
 			updatedBot = await chatClient.Update(new ChatBotUpdateRequest
 			{
diff --git a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/TestLiveServer.cs b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/TestLiveServer.cs
index 01c50b5903..e39d36650e 100644
--- a/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/TestLiveServer.cs
+++ b/tests/Tgstation.Server.Tests/Live/TestLiveServer.cs
@@ -698,15 +698,17 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Tests.Live
 		[TestMethod]
 		public async Task TestStandardTgsOperation()
 		{
-			var missingChatVarsCount = Convert.ToInt32(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_TOKEN")))
+			var discordConnectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_TOKEN");
+			var ircConnectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_IRC_CONNECTION_STRING");
+			var missingChatVarsCount = Convert.ToInt32(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(discordConnectionString))
 				+ Convert.ToInt32(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_DISCORD_CHANNEL")))
-				+ Convert.ToInt32(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_IRC_CONNECTION_STRING")))
+				+ Convert.ToInt32(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ircConnectionString))
 				+ Convert.ToInt32(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("TGS_TEST_IRC_CHANNEL")));
 
 			const int TotalChatVars = 4;
 
 			// uncomment to force this test to run with DummyChatProviders
-			missingChatVarsCount = TotalChatVars;
+			// missingChatVarsCount = TotalChatVars;
 
 			if (missingChatVarsCount != 0)
 			{
@@ -715,6 +717,12 @@ namespace Tgstation.Server.Tests.Live
 
 				ServiceCollectionExtensions.UseChatProviderFactory<DummyChatProviderFactory>();
 			}
+			else
+			{
+				// prevalidate
+				Assert.IsTrue(new DiscordConnectionStringBuilder(discordConnectionString).Valid);
+				Assert.IsTrue(new IrcConnectionStringBuilder(ircConnectionString).Valid);
+			}
 
 			var procs = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessesByName("byond");
 			if (procs.Any())