diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index c69aba078..3ca408222 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ markers = [
 [tool.pytest_env]
 PAPERLESS_DISABLE_DBHANDLER = "true"
 PAPERLESS_CACHE_BACKEND = "django.core.cache.backends.locmem.LocMemCache"
+PAPERLESS_CHANNELS_BACKEND = "channels.layers.InMemoryChannelLayer"
 
 [tool.coverage.report]
 exclude_also = [
diff --git a/src/conftest.py b/src/conftest.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 532a767a8..000000000
--- a/src/conftest.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-import pytest
-from pytest_django.fixtures import SettingsWrapper
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
-def in_memory_channel_layers(settings: SettingsWrapper) -> None:
-    settings.CHANNEL_LAYERS = {
-        "default": {
-            "BACKEND": "channels.layers.InMemoryChannelLayer",
-        },
-    }
diff --git a/src/paperless/settings.py b/src/paperless/settings.py
index bee406fa2..f1434605d 100644
--- a/src/paperless/settings.py
+++ b/src/paperless/settings.py
@@ -491,18 +491,24 @@ TEMPLATES = [
     },
 ]
 
+_CHANNELS_BACKEND = os.environ.get(
+    "PAPERLESS_CHANNELS_BACKEND",
+    "channels_redis.pubsub.RedisPubSubChannelLayer",
+)
 CHANNEL_LAYERS = {
     "default": {
-        "BACKEND": "channels_redis.pubsub.RedisPubSubChannelLayer",
-        "CONFIG": {
-            "hosts": [_CHANNELS_REDIS_URL],
-            "capacity": 2000,  # default 100
-            "expiry": 15,  # default 60
-            "prefix": _REDIS_KEY_PREFIX,
-        },
+        "BACKEND": _CHANNELS_BACKEND,
     },
 }
 
+if _CHANNELS_BACKEND.startswith("channels_redis."):
+    CHANNEL_LAYERS["default"]["CONFIG"] = {
+        "hosts": [_CHANNELS_REDIS_URL],
+        "capacity": 2000,  # default 100
+        "expiry": 15,  # default 60
+        "prefix": _REDIS_KEY_PREFIX,
+    }
+
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