diff --git a/ci/build_docs.sh b/ci/build_docs.sh
index 30f3cd02..f64831fe 100755
--- a/ci/build_docs.sh
+++ b/ci/build_docs.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# Copyright (c) 2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# Copyright (c) 2023-2025, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+rapids-logger "Downloading artifacts from previous jobs"
+CPP_CHANNEL=$(rapids-download-conda-from-s3 cpp)
+
 rapids-logger "Create test conda environment"
 . /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 
@@ -14,20 +17,15 @@ ENV_YAML_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"
 rapids-dependency-file-generator \
   --output conda \
   --file-key docs \
-  --matrix "cuda=${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION%.*};arch=$(arch);py=${RAPIDS_PY_VERSION}" | tee "${ENV_YAML_DIR}/env.yaml"
+  --matrix "cuda=${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION%.*};arch=$(arch);py=${RAPIDS_PY_VERSION}" \
+  --prepend-channel "${CPP_CHANNEL}" \
+  | tee "${ENV_YAML_DIR}/env.yaml"
 
 rapids-mamba-retry env create --yes -f "${ENV_YAML_DIR}/env.yaml" -n docs
 conda activate docs
 
 rapids-print-env
 
-rapids-logger "Downloading artifacts from previous jobs"
-CPP_CHANNEL=$(rapids-download-conda-from-s3 cpp)
-
-rapids-mamba-retry install \
-  --channel "${CPP_CHANNEL}" \
-  "libucxx=${UCXX_VERSION}"
-
 export RAPIDS_DOCS_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"
 
 rapids-logger "Build CPP docs"
diff --git a/dependencies.yaml b/dependencies.yaml
index 84125c7b..ea371406 100644
--- a/dependencies.yaml
+++ b/dependencies.yaml
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ files:
     includes:
       - docs
       - py_version
+      - depends_on_libucxx
   py_build_libucxx:
     output: pyproject
     pyproject_dir: python/libucxx