diff --git a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
index 15f80808a0d7fba3439f2b8b20056246b8aab659..f60eba39450f785a1a6506f28c27251f95d17044 100644
--- a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
@@ -1171,7 +1171,7 @@
 #
 Gitlab.ee do
   Settings['cloud_connector'] = {}
-  Settings.cloud_connector['base_url'] ||= ENV['CLOUD_CONNECTOR_BASE_URL'] || 'https://cloud.gitlab.com'
+  Settings.cloud_connector['base_url'] ||= 'https://cloud.gitlab.com'
 end
 
 #
diff --git a/ee/app/services/cloud_connector/status_checks/status_service.rb b/ee/app/services/cloud_connector/status_checks/status_service.rb
index 4a3bfc95c0124dbc5c777113ee0d529768cddd3f..88db21af95cdc3f26fdea6a58c84a67aad81ff40 100644
--- a/ee/app/services/cloud_connector/status_checks/status_service.rb
+++ b/ee/app/services/cloud_connector/status_checks/status_service.rb
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ def execute
       private
 
       def selected_probes
-        if ::Gitlab::Utils.to_boolean(ENV['CLOUD_CONNECTOR_SELF_SIGN_TOKENS'])
+        if cloud_connector_development?
           development_probes
         # We consider the instance to be using self-hosted Duo
         # if they register a self-hosted AIGW URL.
-        elsif ::Gitlab::AiGateway.self_hosted_url.present?
+        elsif self_hosted_models_setup?
           ::Gitlab::Ai::SelfHosted::AiGateway.probes(@user)
         elsif ::Ai::AmazonQ.connected?
           default_probes + amazon_q_probes
@@ -42,6 +42,17 @@ def selected_probes
         end
       end
 
+      def cloud_connector_development?
+        Rails.env.development? && (
+          ::Gitlab::Utils.to_boolean(ENV['CLOUD_CONNECTOR_SELF_SIGN_TOKENS']) ||
+          ENV['CLOUD_CONNECTOR_BASE_URL'].present?
+        )
+      end
+
+      def self_hosted_models_setup?
+        ::Gitlab::AiGateway.self_hosted_url.present?
+      end
+
       def default_probes
         [
           CloudConnector::StatusChecks::Probes::LicenseProbe.new,
@@ -56,7 +67,7 @@ def default_probes
       # Carries out minimal checks for development and testing purposes
       def development_probes
         [
-          CloudConnector::StatusChecks::Probes::HostProbe.new(::Gitlab::AiGateway.self_hosted_url),
+          CloudConnector::StatusChecks::Probes::HostProbe.new(CLOUD_CONNECTOR_URL),
           CloudConnector::StatusChecks::Probes::EndToEndProbe.new(@user)
         ]
       end
diff --git a/ee/lib/api/security_scans.rb b/ee/lib/api/security_scans.rb
index bd92c636249b00998abe35135f2237bfcdf5767b..5e1aa52da7f65ab0d1fd8963f214e6e1f5adac20 100644
--- a/ee/lib/api/security_scans.rb
+++ b/ee/lib/api/security_scans.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class SecurityScans < ::API::Base
 
     helpers do
       def construct_scan_url(endpoint)
+        # TODO: This will be broken now when setting CLOUD_CONNECTOR_BASE_URL to a local SAST Scanner instance
         scanner_service_url = ENV.fetch('SCANNER_SERVICE_URL', "#{::CloudConnector::Config.base_url}/sast")
         "#{scanner_service_url}/#{endpoint}"
       end
diff --git a/ee/lib/cloud_connector/config.rb b/ee/lib/cloud_connector/config.rb
index 827c6637eaf8fd513a0d9391e5564366e3eb1272..0b11facd2c8b816b75785fb5a3a6d906e1dfb437 100644
--- a/ee/lib/cloud_connector/config.rb
+++ b/ee/lib/cloud_connector/config.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ module Config
     include Gitlab::Utils::StrongMemoize
 
     def base_url
-      Gitlab.config.cloud_connector.base_url
+      ENV['CLOUD_CONNECTOR_BASE_URL'] || Gitlab.config.cloud_connector.base_url
     end
 
     def host
diff --git a/ee/lib/gitlab/ai_gateway.rb b/ee/lib/gitlab/ai_gateway.rb
index 0104b5fa2a76d2016264b439115025a770d25558..3ee5697fa29db219fe3317a10666911403ca1805 100644
--- a/ee/lib/gitlab/ai_gateway.rb
+++ b/ee/lib/gitlab/ai_gateway.rb
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def self.url
     end
 
     def self.cloud_connector_url
-      "#{::CloudConnector::Config.base_url}/ai"
+      ENV['CLOUD_CONNECTOR_BASE_URL'] || "#{::CloudConnector::Config.base_url}/ai"
     end
 
     def self.cloud_connector_auth_url