diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_deploy_backend.yml b/.github/workflows/build_deploy_backend.yml
index 170cd753..5e2925a5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_deploy_backend.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_deploy_backend.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build and push ${{ matrix.service }}
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/docker_build_and_push@master
         with:
-          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
           context: ./zubhub_backend/
           file: ./zubhub_backend/compose/${{ matrix.service }}/prod/Dockerfile
@@ -40,16 +40,16 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/scp_action@master
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          host: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           source: "."
           target: "/home/zubhub-services/zubhub"
 
       - uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          host: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: |
             cp /home/zubhub-services/zubhub/zubhub_backend/compose/deploy_backend.sh /home/zubhub-services/
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
           host: ${{ matrix.host }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: |
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_deploy_frontend.yml b/.github/workflows/build_deploy_frontend.yml
index 2ed18aec..de028cd0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_deploy_frontend.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_deploy_frontend.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build and push frontend
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/docker_build_and_push@master
         with:
-          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
           context: ./zubhub_frontend/zubhub/
           file: ./zubhub_frontend/zubhub/Dockerfile.prod
@@ -37,16 +37,16 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/scp_action@master
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          host: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           source: "."
           target: "/home/zubhub-frontend/zubhub"
 
       - uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DO_FRONTEND_HOST }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_FRONTEND_USERNAME }}
+          host: ${{ vars.DO_FRONTEND_HOST }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_FRONTEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: |
             cp /home/zubhub-frontend/zubhub/zubhub_frontend/zubhub/deploy_frontend.sh /home/zubhub-frontend/
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Execute docker system prune on frontend host
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
-          host: ${{ secrets.DO_FRONTEND_HOST }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_FRONTEND_USERNAME }}
+          host: ${{ vars.DO_FRONTEND_HOST }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_FRONTEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: |
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/create_destroy_test_vm.yaml b/.github/workflows/create_destroy_test_vm.yaml
index 4793e18c..da79d484 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/create_destroy_test_vm.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/create_destroy_test_vm.yaml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ jobs:
           NEW_DROPLET_IP: ${{ fromJson(steps.create_droplet.outputs.JSON_STRING).NEW_DROPLET_IP }}
         with:
           host: ${{env.NEW_DROPLET_IP}}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           source: "."
           target: "/home/zubhub"
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build and push ${{ matrix.service }}
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/docker_build_and_push@master
         with:
-          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
           # for frontend, context is ./zubhub_frontend/zubhub/
           # for backend services, context is ./zubhub_backend/
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
           host: ${{env.NEW_DROPLET_IP}}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: |
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/locust.yml b/.github/workflows/locust.yml
index 0d5da4a0..53fdc8bd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/locust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/locust.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build and push locust
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/docker_build_and_push@master
         with:
-          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
           token: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
           context: ./locust/
           file: ./locust/Dockerfile
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ jobs:
           NEW_DROPLET_IP: ${{ fromJson(steps.create_droplet.outputs.JSON_STRING).NEW_DROPLET_IP }}
         with:
           host: ${{ env.NEW_DROPLET_IP }}
-          username: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          username: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: |
             docker run -d -p 8089:8089 unstructuredstudio/zubhub-services_locust:latest \
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scale_backend.yml b/.github/workflows/scale_backend.yml
index 982a0bbf..712f2ef8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scale_backend.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scale_backend.yml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ jobs:
           NEW_DROPLET_IP: ${{ fromJson(steps.create_droplet.outputs.JSON_STRING).NEW_DROPLET_IP }}
         with:
           HOST: ${{ env.NEW_DROPLET_IP }}
-          USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          USERNAME: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           KEY: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: "docker swarm join --token ${{secrets.SWARM_WORKER_JOIN_TOKEN}} ${{secrets.SWARM_MASTER_HOST_AND_PORT}};sleep 10"
 
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ jobs:
         env:
           TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT: ${{ fromJson(steps.create_droplet.outputs.JSON_STRING).TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT }}
         with:
-          HOST: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
-          USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          HOST: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
+          USERNAME: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME
           KEY: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: "docker service scale zubhub-services_web=${{env.TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT}}"
 
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ env.TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT > 0 }}
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
-          HOST: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
-          USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          HOST: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
+          USERNAME: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           KEY: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: "docker service scale zubhub-services_web=${{env.TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT}}"
 
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
           HOST: ${{ env.TARGET_DROPLET_IP }}
-          USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          USERNAME: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           KEY: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: "docker swarm leave;sleep 5s"
 
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ env.TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT > 0 }}
         uses: unstructuredstudio/zubhub/.github/actions/ssh_action@master
         with:
-          HOST: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
-          USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
+          HOST: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_HOST }}
+          USERNAME: ${{ vars.DO_BACKEND_USERNAME }}
           KEY: ${{ secrets.DO_SSHKEY }}
           script: "docker node rm zubhub-services-${{env.TARGET_DROPLETS_COUNT}}"