Identical Parameter names trigger a 'self-referencing value' error when linking project and process template parameters.

[Clare-Octopus]

Severity

Not blocking customers but can cause irritation as you need to go rename some of the parameter values.

Version

2026.3.10863

Latest Version

I could reproduce the problem in the latest build

What happened?

When I use the same process template parameter name as the project template parameter name, I get a 'self-referencing value' error when trying to add the project template parameter value to the process template parameter value:

Our engineers are aware of this and are making steps to improve the process. We currently do not have a 'best practice' setup scenario for this; however, I found the naming convention below worked well for my templates and allowed me to link the project parameter to the process parameter.

Project Parameters:

Process Parameters:

Putting the name of the resource (Project or Process) in front of my Parameter names helped distinguish where they originally came from and then provide unique names when linking the two together.

You can use identical labels (shown in green below) for your parameters, but the Parameter names cannot match:

This would result in the linked parameters looking like this:

Reproduction

1. Create a Process template with a deployment step and add a process template parameter.
2. Create a project template and add a project template parameter, make sure it's got the same parameter name as the process parameter in Step 1.
3. Add the process template to the project template.
4. Link the project template parameter to the process template parameter and try to commit the changes.
5. See the self-referencing error.

Error and Stacktrace

Process template parameter '<Process template parameter name> in step <Step Name> has a self-referencing value.

More Information

Initial customer ticket (Internal) - https://octopuscd.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/218955
RnD (Internal) - https://octopusdeploy.slack.com/archives/CNHBHV2BX/p1786549465082029

Workaround

Ensure your process and project template parameters are not named the same (see an example of how to name them in the 'What Happened' section of this GitHub issue).