diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index ff2aa95..d00b577 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ variables:
   REFERENCE_SOLUTION: $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE/solutions/solutions
   JPLAG_PATH: /app/jplag.jar
   CI_REPO_HOST: $CI_REGISTRY
-  SSH_PUBLIC_KEY: deploy_key.pub
 
 stages:
   - test
@@ -15,6 +14,7 @@ stages:
 
 before_script:
   ## get ssh private key from secret variable
+  - echo "$SSH_PUBLIC_KEY" | tr -d '\r' > deploy_key.pub
   - eval $(ssh-agent -s)
   - echo "$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" | tr -d '\r' | ssh-add - > /dev/null
   - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ create_projects:
     - abgabesystem
 
   script:
-    - abgabesystem projects -c $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE -d $SSH_PUBLIC_KEY
+    - abgabesystem projects -c $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE -d deploy_key.pub
 
   only:
     - master
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 197a6b1..47e71e4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ You can also [automate this](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/docker/using_docker_b
 
 Proceed by creating an API token that has access to the group of the course.
 Add this token as `PRIVATE_API_TOKEN` to the [secret variables](https://docs.gitlab.com/ce/ci/variables/) of the forked abgabesystem project.
-Then generate an SSH deploy key and add the private part as `SSH_PRIVATE_KEY` to the secret variables.
+Then generate an SSH deploy key and add the private part as `SSH_PRIVATE_KEY` and the public key as `SSH_PUBLIC_KEY` to the secret variables.
 The key will be used by the CI script to fetch from the student projects.
 
 Set up the the student projects using