# Variable evaluation inside secret referencing
**URL:** https://community.doppler.com/t/variable-evaluation-inside-secret-referencing/1574
**Category:** Need Help
**Created:** [July 3, 2024, 8:13am UTC](https://community.doppler.com/t/variable-evaluation-inside-secret-referencing/1574 "2024-07-03T08:13:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mlvnds](https://community.doppler.com/u/mlvnds)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2024, 8:13am UTC](https://community.doppler.com/t/variable-evaluation-inside-secret-referencing/1574/1 "2024-07-03T08:13:46Z")
Hi!
I have a use case where I need to duplicate configurations on two projects but one of them is referencing variables from the other.
Example:
```auto
---
DOPPLER_PROJECT: back
DOPPLER_ENVIRONMENT: dev
DOPPLER_CONFIG: dev_template
> doppler configs clone --config dev_template --name dev_branch_a
# Lets assume I have an SSH_KEY variable in dev_branch_a,
# inherited from dev_template duplication.
# I need this value in a new duplicated configuration from another project:
---
DOPPLER_PROJECT: front
DOPPLER_ENVIRONMENT: dev
DOPPLER_CONFIG: dev_template
SSH_KEY: ${back.dev_template.SSH_KEY}
> doppler configs clone --config dev_template --name dev_branch_a
```
So **$SSH\_KEY** from **front** project is pointing to a variable from a template instead of the dynamically created environment.
Is there a way to evaluate a variable inside a secret referencing mechanism ?
Something like `${back.dev_${GIT_BRANCH_SLUG}.SSH_KEY}`
Regards,
---
### Author:  [@watsonian](https://community.doppler.com/u/watsonian)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://community.doppler.com/t/variable-evaluation-inside-secret-referencing/1574/2 "2024-07-03T15:42:01Z")
Hi @mlvnds!
Welcome to the Doppler Community!
It’s not possible to nest secret references like that currently. I assume this is happening as part of some automation though since it’s dynamic? If that’s the case, your best bet would probably be to leave `SSH_KEY` empty in the root config for `back` and then set that secret to the appropriate value at the time of creation when you know what the branch name would be. So, something like this:
```shell
NEW_BRANCH_NAME=dev_branch_a
doppler configs clone --project back --config dev_template --name $NEW_BRANCH_NAME
doppler configs clone --project front --config dev_template --name $NEW_BRANCH_NAME
doppler secrets set --project front --config $NEW_BRANCH_NAME SSH_KEY="\${back.$NEW_BRANCH_NAME.SSH_KEY}"
```
Would something like that work for you?
Regards,
-Joel
---
### Author:  [@mlvnds](https://community.doppler.com/u/mlvnds)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://community.doppler.com/t/variable-evaluation-inside-secret-referencing/1574/3 "2024-07-03T22:18:03Z")
Hi @watsonian !
Thanks for taking time to look at this.
You got the point, the purpose is only for dynamic environment created by our CI on review apps creation (gitlab-ci).
Your solution works but I was looking for something more convenient to use if many variables are defined (but my example was only about one SSH\_KEY, so you solve the original problem).
As our developers could add more secrets on their environments, I have figured out a way to manage this use case without having to know and declare each nested secret references.
Definitely not the more convenient to read, but it does the job:
```auto
for secret in $(doppler secrets --project front --config dev_template --raw --json | jq -r --arg CUSTOM_ENV_NAME "$CI_COMMIT_REF_SLUG" 'to_entries | map(select(.value.raw | contains("back.dev_template."))) | map("\(.key)=\(.value.raw | gsub("dev_template"; $CUSTOM_ENV_NAME))") | .[]') ; do
doppler secrets --project front --config dev_template set $secret
done
```
For every secret value with `${back.dev_template.XXX}`, we replacing `dev_template` by a dynamic environment variable available on CI host during job execution.
Regards,