diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index aeb73f5b4..aa6b01485 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.0.0 h1:iVjPR7a6H0tWELX5NxNe7bYopibicUzc7uP
 github.com/hashicorp/go-multierror v1.0.0/go.mod h1:dHtQlpGsu+cZNNAkkCN/P3hoUDHhCYQXV3UM06sGGrk=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp v0.0.0-20180718195005-e651d75abec6 h1:qCv4319q2q7XKn0MQbi8p37hsJ+9Xo8e6yojA73JVxk=
 github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp v0.0.0-20180718195005-e651d75abec6/go.mod h1:fXcdFsQoipQa7mwORhKad5jmDCeSy/RCGzWA08PO0lM=
+github.com/hashicorp/go-rootcerts v1.0.0 h1:Rqb66Oo1X/eSV1x66xbDccZjhJigjg0+e82kpwzSwCI=
+github.com/hashicorp/go-rootcerts v1.0.0/go.mod h1:K6zTfqpRlCUIjkwsN4Z+hiSfzSTQa6eBIzfwKfwNnHU=
 github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru v0.5.0 h1:CL2msUPvZTLb5O648aiLNJw3hnBxN2+1Jq8rCOH9wdo=
 github.com/hashicorp/golang-lru v0.5.0/go.mod h1:/m3WP610KZHVQ1SGc6re/UDhFvYD7pJ4Ao+sR/qLZy8=
 github.com/hashicorp/nomad v0.0.0-20190125003214-134391155854 h1:L7WhLZt2ory/kQWxqkMwOiBpIoa4BWoadN7yx8LHEtk=
diff --git a/operator/runner/runner.go b/operator/runner/runner.go
index ca7ff7b28..10ca9f6cf 100644
--- a/operator/runner/runner.go
+++ b/operator/runner/runner.go
@@ -184,7 +184,18 @@ func (r *Runner) Run(ctx context.Context, id int64) error {
 	// TODO mutate the yaml
 	//
 
-	y, err := envsubst.Eval(string(m.Config.Data), func(name string) string {
+	// this code is temporarily in place to detect and convert
+	// the legacy yaml configuration file to the new format.
+	y, err := converter.ConvertString(string(m.Config.Data), converter.Metadata{
+		Filename: m.Repo.Config,
+		Ref:      m.Build.Ref,
+	})
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	y, err = envsubst.Eval(y, func(name string) string {
 		env := environ[name]
 		if strings.Contains(env, "\n") {
 			env = fmt.Sprintf("%q", env)
@@ -192,16 +203,6 @@ func (r *Runner) Run(ctx context.Context, id int64) error {
 		return env
 	})
 
-	// this code is temporarily in place to detect and convert
-	// the legacy yaml configuration file to the new format.
-	y, err = converter.ConvertString(y, converter.Metadata{
-		Filename: m.Repo.Config,
-		Ref:      m.Build.Ref,
-	})
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
 	manifest, err := yaml.ParseString(y)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger = logger.WithError(err)