diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 48e6df1ca8c575f15778e0daa479df9c24ba6066..898dee93aa69505eb349d293523a7298c1d9c25c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ deploy-to-staging:
     - |
       # The environment variable is configured with GitLab using Terraform so
       # we can retain some bare minimum level of confidentiality.
-      echo "${PRIVATESTORAGEIO_STAGING_SSH_DEPLOY_KEY}" > "${PWD}"/deploy_key
+      base64 --decode "${PRIVATESTORAGEIO_STAGING_SSH_DEPLOY_KEY}" > "${PWD}"/deploy_key
 
     # Update the deployment
     - |