diff --git a/crates/client/src/client.rs b/crates/client/src/client.rs
index ce6bbe6f31f90a0983a90286a7d95e031655aca3..4c468059ff72fe805eedace13eaee681fe233b39 100644
--- a/crates/client/src/client.rs
+++ b/crates/client/src/client.rs
@@ -991,13 +991,13 @@ impl Client {
                 .zip(rpc_url.port_or_known_default())
                 .ok_or_else(|| anyhow!("missing host in rpc url"))?;
             let stream = smol::net::TcpStream::connect(rpc_host).await?;
+            rpc_url.set_query(if is_preview { Some("preview=1") } else { None });
 
             log::info!("connected to rpc endpoint {}", rpc_url);
 
             match rpc_url.scheme() {
                 "https" => {
                     rpc_url.set_scheme("wss").unwrap();
-                    rpc_url.set_query(if is_preview { Some("preview=1") } else { None });
                     let request = request.uri(rpc_url.as_str()).body(())?;
                     let (stream, _) =
                         async_tungstenite::async_tls::client_async_tls(request, stream).await?;
diff --git a/crates/zed/src/zed.rs b/crates/zed/src/zed.rs
index 4463a4537c39603fbe45b8e7995153c8d0e202ec..6536d83ce64a31525aa5aa3357e52e8eb3ca5fc8 100644
--- a/crates/zed/src/zed.rs
+++ b/crates/zed/src/zed.rs
@@ -69,14 +69,15 @@ actions!(
 );
 
 const MIN_FONT_SIZE: f32 = 6.0;
-const RELEASE_CHANNEL_NAME: &str = include_str!("../RELEASE_CHANNEL");
 
 lazy_static! {
-    pub static ref RELEASE_CHANNEL: ReleaseChannel = match RELEASE_CHANNEL_NAME {
+    static ref RELEASE_CHANNEL_NAME: String =
+        env::var("ZED_RELEASE_CHANNEL").unwrap_or(include_str!("../RELEASE_CHANNEL").to_string());
+    pub static ref RELEASE_CHANNEL: ReleaseChannel = match RELEASE_CHANNEL_NAME.as_str() {
         "dev" => ReleaseChannel::Dev,
         "preview" => ReleaseChannel::Preview,
         "stable" => ReleaseChannel::Preview,
-        _ => panic!("invalid release channel {RELEASE_CHANNEL_NAME}"),
+        _ => panic!("invalid release channel {}", *RELEASE_CHANNEL_NAME),
     };
 }