diff --git a/playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/zuul.yaml.j2 b/playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/zuul.yaml.j2
index 80b5c156a5..bedc31d203 100644
--- a/playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/zuul.yaml.j2
+++ b/playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/zuul.yaml.j2
@@ -1,3 +1,23 @@
+zuul_connections:
+  - name: 'smtp'
+    driver: 'smtp'
+    server: 'localhost'
+    port: '25'
+    default_from: 'zuul@zuul.openstack.org'
+    default_to: 'zuul.reports@zuul.openstack.org'
+
+  - name: 'gerrit'
+    driver: 'git'
+    baseurl: '/tmp'
+
+  - name: 'github'
+    driver: 'git'
+    baseurl: '/tmp'
+
+  - name: 'googlesource'
+    driver: 'git'
+    baseurl: '/tmp'
+
 gearman_client_ssl_key: |
   -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
   MIIEwAIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAASCBKowggSmAgEAAoIBAQDVr8aQW9tQLmDW
diff --git a/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml b/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml
index 2ecb3ee974..9fa8b1ee1e 100644
--- a/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/system-config-run.yaml
@@ -679,6 +679,10 @@
       - playbooks/roles/zookeeper/
       - playbooks/roles/install-apt-repo
       - playbooks/roles/zuul
+      - playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/zuul
+      - playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/zookeeper.yaml
+      - playbooks/zuul/templates/host_vars/zk\d+
+      - playbooks/zuul/templates/host_vars/zuul01.openstack.org
       - testinfra/test_zuul_executor.py
       - testinfra/test_zuul_scheduler.py
       - testinfra/test_zuul_merger.py