how to use included variable from file with jinja2 template and with_items

I am having an error where the fields of my variable are not being detected when trying to build a configuration using a jinja2 template. This is to sync Linux repositories to yum and apt based systems from a golden source using ansible. Each repository configuration would go into a different file and the task updated with the variable name. Base system configs should be able to be put in one file using multiple uses of "-" then a list of attributes. I have reviewed: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/425824/for-loop-in-jinja2?newreg=93efdc763c9b4ce3b64c379efd46b9cd https://omarkhawaja.com/accessing-ansible-variables-with-jinja2-loops/ https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25418158/templating-multiple-yum-repo-files-with-ansible-template-module as well as others that are less relevant to what I am doing. var file: --- repo: - name: google_chrome async: 1 url: http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_6 ... include var task: - name: Include var into the 'chrome' variable. include_vars: file: google_chrome_repo.yaml name: chrome task to use template module: - name: generate config for Centos template: src: yum_template.j2 dest: "/etc/yum.repos.d/{{ item }}.repo" backup: yes with_items: - chrome when: - ansible_distribution == 'CentOS' template: {% for i in item %} [ {{ i.name }} ] async = {{ i.async }} baseurl = {{ i.url }} enabled = {{ i.repo_enable }} enablegroups = {{ i.pkggrp_enable }} failovermethod = {{ i.ha_method }} gpgkey = {{ i.gpgkey_url }} http_caching = {{ i.http_caching }} keepcache = {{ i.keepcache }} metadata_expire = {{ i.metadata_expire }} mirrorlist = {{ i.mirrorlist }} mirrorlist_expire = {{ i.mirrorlist_expire }} name = {{ i.descrip }} protect = {{ i.protect }} proxy = {{ i.proxy_config }} proxy_password = {{ i.proxy_username }} proxy_username = {{ i.proxy_password }} repo_gpgcheck = {{ i.repo_gpgcheck }} retries = {{ i.repo_retry_count }} s3_enabled = {{ i.s3_enabled }} sslverify = {{ i.ssl_verify }} timeout = {{ i.timeout }} {% endfor %} error: failed: [192.168.33.31] (item=chrome) => {"changed": false, "item": "chrome", "msg": "AnsibleUndefinedVariable: 'unicode object' has no attribute 'name'"} whichever attribute in role is first called by the jinja2 template will fail in this way. If I change the following so name isn't referenced and "i.name" becomes just "chrome" it will fail on async I can see the variable is imported ok: [192.168.33.31] => {"ansible_facts": {"chrome": {"repo": [{"async": 1, "descrip": "Google Chrome Repository", "gpgkey_url": "https://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub ", "ha_method": "roundrobin", "http_caching": 1, "keepcache": 1, "metadata_expire": 21600, "mirrorlist": null, "mirrorlist_expire": 21600, "name": "google_chrome", "pkggrp_enable": 1, "protect": 0, "proxy_config": "__None__", "proxy_password": null, "proxy_username": null, "repo_enable": 1, "repo_gpgcheck": 1, "repo_retry_count": 10, "s3_enabled": 0, "ssl_verify": 1, "timeout": 1, "url": "http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_6 "}]}}, "ansible_included_var_files": ["/var/lib/awx/projects/_6__trowe/playbooks/roles/Manage_Linux_Repos/vars/google_chrome_repo.yaml"], "changed": false} I do see it says "unicode" variable where I would expect it to be a dict. I have also tried with_dict and the error says that the variable is not a dictionary. However if I structure the variable file without "repo:", it will error saying it was not passed a dictionary object...