diff --git a/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployer.ts b/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployer.ts
index e6c2a904..fb217e69 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployer.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployer.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ export class Deployer {
   @Column('varchar')
   baseDomain!: string;
 
-  @Column('varchar')
-  publicKey!: string;
+  @Column('varchar', { nullable: true})
+  publicKey!: string | null;
 
   @Column('varchar', { nullable: true })
   minimumPayment!: string | null;
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployment.ts b/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployment.ts
index 5c772b32..88cd0df1 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployment.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/entity/Deployment.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ export interface ApplicationDeploymentRequest {
   application: string;
   lrn?: string;
   auction?: string;
-  config: string;
+  config: {
+    ref: string;
+  };
   meta: string;
   payment?: string;
 }
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/registry.ts b/packages/backend/src/registry.ts
index 689a5cac..2c0516ad 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/registry.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/registry.ts
@@ -272,13 +272,24 @@ export class Registry {
       "config": { "env": data.environmentVariables },
     }
 
-    const serialized = yaml.dump(config)
+    const binaryKey = Buffer.from(data.publicKey, 'base64');
 
-    const publicKey = await openpgp.readKey({ armoredKey: data.publicKey });
+    // Convert binary to ASCII-armored format
+    const publicKeyArmored = `-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----\n\n` +
+      binaryKey.toString('base64').match(/.{1,64}/g)?.join('\n') +
+      `\n\n-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----`;
 
+    // Read the public key
+    const publicKey = await openpgp.readKey({ armoredKey: publicKeyArmored });
+
+    // Serialize the config (convert to YAML)
+    const serialized = JSON.stringify(config, null, 2); // Use YAML if needed
+
+    // Encrypt the config
     const encrypted = await openpgp.encrypt({
       message: await openpgp.createMessage({ text: serialized }),
-      encryptionKeys: publicKey
+      encryptionKeys: publicKey,
+      format: 'binary' // Equivalent to armor=False
     });
 
     // To get the hash after uploading encrypted env
diff --git a/packages/backend/test/publish-deploy-records.ts b/packages/backend/test/publish-deploy-records.ts
index 26e0823a..8f78a806 100644
--- a/packages/backend/test/publish-deploy-records.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/test/publish-deploy-records.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import { Deployment, DeploymentStatus, Environment } from '../src/entity/Deploym
 const log = debug('snowball:publish-deploy-records');
 
 async function main() {
-  const { registryConfig, database, misc } = await getConfig();
+  const { registryConfig, database } = await getConfig();
 
   const registry = new Registry(
     registryConfig.gqlEndpoint,