diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.test.ts
index 892ce5f25c..cb36e5166c 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.test.ts
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
         branch: 'master',
         host: 'host',
         catalogFile: 'catalog-info.yaml',
+        projectPattern: /[\s\S]*/,
       }),
     );
   });
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ describe('config', () => {
         branch: 'not-master',
         host: 'host',
         catalogFile: 'custom-file.yaml',
+        projectPattern: /[\s\S]*/,
       }),
     );
   });
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.ts
index da2a7e0b8d..392922860f 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/config.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ function readGitlabConfig(id: string, config: Config): GitlabProviderConfig {
   const catalogFile =
     config.getOptionalString('entityFilename') ?? 'catalog-info.yaml';
   const projectPattern = new RegExp(
-    config.getString('projectPattern') ?? /[\s\S]*/,
+    config.getOptionalString('projectPattern') ?? /[\s\S]*/,
   );
 
   return {