diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
index 7d52729..44b32ac 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ jobs:
 
           content = Path("terraform.tfvars.example").read_text()
           content = content.replace("__HCLOUD_TOKEN__", os.environ["HETZNER_TOKEN"])
-          content = content.replace("__SSH_KEY__", os.environ["SSH_KEY"])
+          raw_key = os.environ.get("SSH_KEY", "")
+          key_line = next((line for line in raw_key.splitlines() if line.strip()), "")
+          content = content.replace("__SSH_KEY__", key_line)
           Path("terraform.tfvars").write_text(content)
           PY