diff --git a/test/ci-cleanup.sh b/test/ci-cleanup.sh
index 224a5f00..7eb15589 100755
--- a/test/ci-cleanup.sh
+++ b/test/ci-cleanup.sh
@@ -4,11 +4,15 @@ set -e
 echo "Cleanup artifacts of previous runs"
 
 # containerlab will figure out previous run locations from the docker containers
-previous_topos=$(docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "clab-topo-file" }}' $(docker ps -aq))
-for topo in previous_topos; do
-    previous_lab_dir=$(dirname $topo)
-    mkdir -p "${previous_lab_dir}/clab-mini-lab"
-done
+running_containers=$(docker ps -aq)
+
+if [ ! -z "$running_containers" ]; then
+    previous_topos=$(docker inspect -f '{{ index .Config.Labels "clab-topo-file" }}' $(docker ps -aq))
+    for topo in previous_topos; do
+        previous_lab_dir=$(dirname $topo)
+        mkdir -p "${previous_lab_dir}/clab-mini-lab"
+    done
+fi
 
 make cleanup