diff --git a/roles/defaults/vars.go b/roles/defaults/vars.go
index 4c11748..0799e7d 100644
--- a/roles/defaults/vars.go
+++ b/roles/defaults/vars.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	_ "embed"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/goccy/go-yaml"
 )
@@ -12,14 +13,25 @@
 	varsFile []byte
 )
 
+// Define a global variable for the release value.
+var release = "main"
+
+// Function to replace the {{ release }} placeholders
+func replaceReleaseInYAML(yamlContent []byte, release string) []byte {
+	return []byte(strings.ReplaceAll(string(yamlContent), "{{ atmosphere_release }}", release))
+}
+
 func GetImages() (map[string]string, error) {
+	// Replace {{ release }} with the actual release value
+	modifiedVarsFile := replaceReleaseInYAML(varsFile, release)
+
 	path, err := yaml.PathString("$._atmosphere_images")
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	var images map[string]string
-	if err := path.Read(bytes.NewReader(varsFile), &images); err != nil {
+	if err := path.Read(bytes.NewReader(modifiedVarsFile), &images); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
diff --git a/roles/defaults/vars_test.go b/roles/defaults/vars_test.go
index 7224a40..44e022d 100644
--- a/roles/defaults/vars_test.go
+++ b/roles/defaults/vars_test.go
@@ -28,16 +28,22 @@
 		// NOTE(mnaser): ParseReference does not allow both tag & digest,
 		//               so we strip the tags from the image name.
 		nameWithTagSplit := strings.Split(image, "@")
-		require.Len(t, nameWithTagSplit, 2)
+		// NOTE(okozachenko1203): We'll enable this again when use image digest.
+		// require.Len(t, nameWithTagSplit, 2)
 		nameWithTag := nameWithTagSplit[0]
-		name := strings.Split(nameWithTag, ":")[0]
-		digest := strings.Split(image, "@")[1]
-		image := fmt.Sprintf("%s@%s", name, digest)
+		var imageRef string
+		if len(nameWithTagSplit) == 2 {
+			name := strings.Split(nameWithTag, ":")[0]
+			digest := strings.Split(image, "@")[1]
+			imageRef = fmt.Sprintf("%s@%s", name, digest)
+		} else {
+			imageRef = nameWithTag
+		}
 
-		t.Run(image, func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Run(imageRef, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
 
-			ref, err := docker.ParseReference(fmt.Sprintf("//%s", image))
+			ref, err := docker.ParseReference(fmt.Sprintf("//%s", imageRef))
 			require.NoError(t, err)
 
 			ctx := context.Background()