diff --git a/ansible/templates/fish/machine.fish b/ansible/templates/fish/machine.fish
index 62d5e62..d90d5b6 100644
--- a/ansible/templates/fish/machine.fish
+++ b/ansible/templates/fish/machine.fish
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
-alias machine-name="{{ device_name }}"
+# make available machine name
+alias machine-name="echo {{ device_name }}"
+export MACHINE_NAME="{{ device_name }}"
+