finally found a way to disable airbrake [ci skip]

config/initializers/airbrake.rb

@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 # licensed under the Affero General Public License version 3 or later.  See
 # the COPYRIGHT file.
 
-if AppConfig[:airbrake_api_key].present?
-  require 'airbrake'
-  Airbrake.configure do |config|
-    puts AppConfig[:airbrake_api_key]
+Airbrake.configure do |config|
+  if AppConfig[:airbrake_api_key].present?
     config.api_key = AppConfig[:airbrake_api_key] 
+  else
+    # creative way to disable Airbrake, should be replaced once the gem provides a proper way
+    config.development_environments << Rails.env
   end
 end