diff --git a/templates/nginx.default.conf.j2 b/templates/nginx.default.conf.j2
index 1efc0fe..0db6ba3 100644
--- a/templates/nginx.default.conf.j2
+++ b/templates/nginx.default.conf.j2
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx/pep keys_zone=token_responses:1m max_size=2m;
 js_var $auth_token;
 js_var $pep_credentials;
+js_var $remote_user;
 underscores_in_headers on;
 
 upstream _inception-server {