diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.examples.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.examples.ts
index 52ced84ac8..468fa03fba 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.examples.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.examples.ts
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ export const examples: TemplateExample[] = [
           name: 'Publish to GitLab',
           input: {
             repoUrl: 'gitlab.com?repo=project_name&owner=group_name',
-            variables: [
+            projectVariables: [
               {
                 key: 'key1',
                 value: 'value1',
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.test.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.test.ts
index 4a6019a48e..c8afc3b07b 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.test.ts
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ describe('publish:gitlab', () => {
     input: {
       repoUrl: 'gitlab.com?repo=repo&owner=owner',
       repoVisibility: 'private' as const,
-      variables: [
+      projectVariables: [
         {
           key: 'key',
           value: 'value',
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
index ee9be04a3d..52c0409870 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ export function createPublishGitlabAction(options: {
       create?: boolean;
       ref?: string;
     }>;
-    variables?: Array<{
+    projectVariables?: Array<{
       key: string;
       value: string;
       description?: string;
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ export function createPublishGitlabAction(options: {
               },
             },
           },
-          variables: {
+          projectVariables: {
             title: 'Project variables',
             description:
               'Project variables settings based on Gitlab Project Environments API - https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/api/project_level_variables.html#create-a-variable',
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ export function createPublishGitlabAction(options: {
         topics = [],
         settings = {},
         branches = [],
-        variables = [],
+        projectVariables = [],
       } = ctx.input;
       const { owner, repo, host } = parseRepoUrl(repoUrl, integrations);
 
@@ -378,8 +378,8 @@ export function createPublishGitlabAction(options: {
         }
       }
 
-      if (variables) {
-        for (const variable of variables) {
+      if (projectVariables) {
+        for (const variable of projectVariables) {
           const variableWithDefaults = Object.assign(variable, {
             variable_type: variable.variable_type ?? 'env_var',
             protected: variable.protected ?? false,