diff --git a/docker/profiles/docker-compose.actions.yml b/docker/profiles/docker-compose.actions.yml
index 45c1d928443f8..64ad5d9211ed8 100644
--- a/docker/profiles/docker-compose.actions.yml
+++ b/docker/profiles/docker-compose.actions.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ x-datahub-actions-service: &datahub-actions-service
   image: ${DATAHUB_ACTIONS_IMAGE:-${DATAHUB_ACTIONS_REPO:-acryldata}/datahub-actions}:${ACTIONS_VERSION:-v0.0.14}
   env_file:
     - datahub-actions/env/docker.env
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-datahub-actions/env/docker.env}
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_ACTIONS_ENV:-datahub-actions/env/docker.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-empty.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_ACTIONS_ENV:-empty.env}
   environment:
     ACTIONS_EXTRA_PACKAGES: ${ACTIONS_EXTRA_PACKAGES:-}
     ACTIONS_CONFIG: ${ACTIONS_CONFIG:-}
diff --git a/docker/profiles/docker-compose.frontend.yml b/docker/profiles/docker-compose.frontend.yml
index 345493ba51650..a0239402cad86 100644
--- a/docker/profiles/docker-compose.frontend.yml
+++ b/docker/profiles/docker-compose.frontend.yml
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ x-datahub-frontend-service: &datahub-frontend-service
     - ${DATAHUB_MAPPED_FRONTEND_PORT:-9002}:9002
   env_file:
     - datahub-frontend/env/docker.env
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-datahub-frontend/env/docker.env}
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_FRONTEND_ENV:-datahub-frontend/env/docker.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-empty.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_FRONTEND_ENV:-empty.env}
   environment: &datahub-frontend-service-env
     KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVER: broker:29092
   volumes:
diff --git a/docker/profiles/docker-compose.gms.yml b/docker/profiles/docker-compose.gms.yml
index e9baa65290e50..7950c12cfbb31 100644
--- a/docker/profiles/docker-compose.gms.yml
+++ b/docker/profiles/docker-compose.gms.yml
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ x-datahub-system-update-service: &datahub-system-update-service
     - SystemUpdate
   env_file:
     - datahub-upgrade/env/docker.env
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-datahub-upgrade/env/docker.env}
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_SYS_UPDATE_ENV:-datahub-upgrade/env/docker.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-empty.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_SYS_UPDATE_ENV:-empty.env}
   environment: &datahub-system-update-env
     <<: [*primary-datastore-mysql-env, *graph-datastore-search-env, *search-datastore-env, *kafka-env]
     SCHEMA_REGISTRY_SYSTEM_UPDATE: ${SCHEMA_REGISTRY_SYSTEM_UPDATE:-true}
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ x-datahub-gms-service: &datahub-gms-service
     - ${DATAHUB_MAPPED_GMS_PORT:-8080}:8080
   env_file:
     - datahub-gms/env/docker.env
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-datahub-gms/env/docker.env}
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_GMS_ENV:-datahub-gms/env/docker.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-empty.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_GMS_ENV:-empty.env}
   environment: &datahub-gms-env
     <<: [*primary-datastore-mysql-env, *graph-datastore-search-env, *search-datastore-env, *datahub-quickstart-telemetry-env, *kafka-env]
   healthcheck:
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ x-datahub-mae-consumer-service: &datahub-mae-consumer-service
     - 9091:9091
   env_file:
     - datahub-mae-consumer/env/docker.env
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-datahub-mae-consumer/env/docker.env}
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_MAE_ENV:-datahub-mae-consumer/env/docker.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-empty.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_MAE_ENV:-empty.env}
   environment: &datahub-mae-consumer-env
     <<: [*primary-datastore-mysql-env, *graph-datastore-search-env, *search-datastore-env, *kafka-env]
 
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ x-datahub-mce-consumer-service: &datahub-mce-consumer-service
     - 9090:9090
   env_file:
     - datahub-mce-consumer/env/docker.env
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-datahub-mce-consumer/env/docker.env}
-    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_MCE_ENV:-datahub-mce-consumer/env/docker.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_COMMON_ENV:-empty.env}
+    - ${DATAHUB_LOCAL_MCE_ENV:-empty.env}
   environment: &datahub-mce-consumer-env
     <<: [*primary-datastore-mysql-env, *graph-datastore-search-env, *search-datastore-env, *datahub-quickstart-telemetry-env, *kafka-env]
 
diff --git a/docker/profiles/empty.env b/docker/profiles/empty.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6a3aaf83f8378
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/profiles/empty.env
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Docker compose requires that all env_file entries exist.
+# Because we have some optional env_file entries that can be set
+# as environment variables, we need a default file to point at
+# when those are not set.