diff --git a/templates/nix-gitlab-ci.yml b/templates/nix-gitlab-ci.yml
index 6ac8a82..b00ac79 100644
--- a/templates/nix-gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/templates/nix-gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ nix-ci:build:
             || NIX_CI_PIPELINE_NAME="$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE";
         fi
         echo "NIX_CI_GENERATED_PIPELINE_NAME=$NIX_CI_PIPELINE_NAME" >> trigger.env
+        # inheritance of pipeline variables is a bit weird, so explicitly override them
+        # (ctx: setting any of these in the project variables would only apply correctly
+        # in this pipeline, not the child pipeline, instead weirdly enough the default 
+        # variables above are used). If any other variables are added at the top, add them
+        # here aswell
+        echo "NIX_CI_IMAGE=$NIX_CI_IMAGE" >> trigger.env
+        echo "NIX_CI_CACHE_STRATEGY=$NIX_CI_CACHE_STRATEGY" >> trigger.env
 
         mkdir -p .nix-ci-pipelines/
         # generated-gitlab-ci.yml exists in the cache