diff --git a/.github/workflows/actions/terraform-deploy/action.yml b/.github/workflows/actions/terraform-deploy/action.yml
index a978024..b2eff64 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/actions/terraform-deploy/action.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/actions/terraform-deploy/action.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ inputs:
     required: true
   lambda-image-tag:
     description: "Tag of the Lambda image (e.g., GitHub SHA)"
-    required: false
+    required: true
 
 runs:
   using: "composite"
diff --git a/deployment/lambda/extractor_and_loader/vars.tf b/deployment/lambda/extractor_and_loader/vars.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecdf359
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/lambda/extractor_and_loader/vars.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+variable "lambda_image_tag" {
+  description = "Docker image tag (e.g. GitHub SHA)"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "local-dev-latest"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/deployment/lambda/lambda_example/vars.tf b/deployment/lambda/lambda_example/vars.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecdf359
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deployment/lambda/lambda_example/vars.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+variable "lambda_image_tag" {
+  description = "Docker image tag (e.g. GitHub SHA)"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "local-dev-latest"
+}
\ No newline at end of file