diff --git a/pkg/config/draftconfig_template_test.go b/pkg/config/draftconfig_template_test.go
index 35d1c87b..f4e6fcf9 100644
--- a/pkg/config/draftconfig_template_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/draftconfig_template_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package config
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/fs"
+	"path"
 	"regexp"
 	"slices"
 	"strings"
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ var validVariableKinds = map[string]bool{
 	"containerImageVersion":      true,
 	"clusterResourceType":        true,
 	"dirPath":                    true,
+	"dirPathList":                true,
 	"dockerFileName":             true,
 	"envVarMap":                  true,
 	"fileName":                   true,
@@ -135,6 +137,53 @@ func TestShippedVariableValuesPassValidation(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Nil(t, err)
 }
 
+func TestDirPathListVariablesAreJSONEncoded(t *testing.T) {
+	checked := 0
+	err := fs.WalkDir(template.Templates, ".", func(configPath string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if d.IsDir() || !strings.EqualFold(d.Name(), draftConfigFile) {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		currTemplate, err := NewConfigFromFS(template.Templates, configPath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		templateDir := path.Dir(configPath)
+		for _, variable := range currTemplate.Variables {
+			if variable.Kind != "dirPathList" {
+				continue
+			}
+			reference := regexp.MustCompile(`GetVariableValue\s+"` + regexp.QuoteMeta(variable.Name) + `"\s*(\|\s*jsonString\b)?`)
+			err := fs.WalkDir(template.Templates, templateDir, func(filePath string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
+				if err != nil || d.IsDir() || filePath == configPath {
+					return err
+				}
+				content, err := fs.ReadFile(template.Templates, filePath)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				for _, match := range reference.FindAllStringSubmatch(string(content), -1) {
+					checked++
+					if match[1] == "" {
+						t.Errorf("%s renders %s (kind dirPathList) without jsonString", filePath, variable.Name)
+					}
+				}
+				return nil
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.NotZero(t, checked, "expected at least one dirPathList variable reference")
+}
+
 func loadTemplatesWithValidation() error {
 	regexp := regexp.MustCompile(alphaNumUnderscoreHyphen)
 	return fs.WalkDir(template.Templates, ".", func(path string, d fs.DirEntry, err error) error {
diff --git a/pkg/config/validators/validators.go b/pkg/config/validators/validators.go
index cee76738..5cf24e86 100644
--- a/pkg/config/validators/validators.go
+++ b/pkg/config/validators/validators.go
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ func GetValidator(variableKind string) func(string) error {
 		return containerImageVersionValidator
 	case "dirPath":
 		return dirPathValidator
+	case "dirPathList":
+		return dirPathListValidator
 	case "envVarMap":
 		return keyValueMapValidator
 	case "fileName":
@@ -217,6 +219,21 @@ func dirPathValidator(input string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func dirPathListValidator(input string) error {
+	if input == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid directory path list: must not be empty")
+	}
+	for _, entry := range strings.Split(input, "\n") {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(entry) != entry {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid directory path list: entry %q has leading or trailing whitespace", entry)
+		}
+		if err := dirPathValidator(entry); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid directory path list: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func repositoryBranchValidator(input string) error {
 	if input == "" {
 		return fmt.Errorf("invalid repository branch: must not be empty")
diff --git a/pkg/config/validators/validators_test.go b/pkg/config/validators/validators_test.go
index fd12f4dd..0731ade1 100644
--- a/pkg/config/validators/validators_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/validators/validators_test.go
@@ -162,6 +162,28 @@ func TestDirPathValidator(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDirPathListValidator(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, input := range []string{"./manifests/*", "./a.yaml\n./b/c.yaml", "src/my app\n資料/服務"} {
+		assert.Nil(t, GetValidator("dirPathList")(input), "expected %q to be valid", input)
+	}
+
+	for _, input := range []string{
+		"",
+		"./a.yaml\n",
+		"\n./a.yaml",
+		"./a.yaml\n\n./b.yaml",
+		"./a.yaml\r\n./b.yaml",
+		"./a.yaml\n$(touch pwned)",
+		"./a.yaml\n-rf",
+		" ./a.yaml",
+		"./a.yaml \n./b.yaml",
+		"./a.yaml\n  ./b.yaml",
+		"./a.yaml\n\"quoted\"",
+	} {
+		assert.NotNil(t, GetValidator("dirPathList")(input), "expected %q to be rejected", input)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRepositoryBranchValidator(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, input := range []string{"main", "feature/security-fix", "release-1.2"} {
 		assert.Nil(t, GetValidator("repositoryBranch")(input), "expected %q to be valid", input)
diff --git a/pkg/handlers/template_test.go b/pkg/handlers/template_test.go
index 0b1504e7..3000734b 100644
--- a/pkg/handlers/template_test.go
+++ b/pkg/handlers/template_test.go
@@ -224,3 +224,59 @@ func TestPythonEntrypointJSONEncoding(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestManifestPathListRendersAsOneValue(t *testing.T) {
+	paths := "./manifests/deployment.yaml\n./manifests/service.yaml\n./manifests/ingress.yaml"
+
+	testCases := []struct {
+		name     string
+		template string
+		output   string
+		values   map[string]string
+		lookup   func(map[string]any) any
+	}{
+		{
+			name:     "azure pipeline",
+			template: "azure-pipeline-manifests",
+			output:   ".pipelines/azure-kubernetes-service.yaml",
+			values: map[string]string{
+				"ARMSERVICECONNECTION": "conn", "AZURECONTAINERREGISTRY": "registry",
+				"CONTAINERNAME": "app", "CLUSTERRESOURCEGROUP": "cluster-rg",
+				"ACRRESOURCEGROUP": "acr-rg", "CLUSTERNAME": "cluster",
+				"CLUSTERRESOURCETYPE": "Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters",
+				"MANIFESTPATH":        paths,
+			},
+			lookup: func(doc map[string]any) any { return doc["variables"].(map[string]any)["manifestPath"] },
+		},
+		{
+			name:     "github workflow",
+			template: "github-workflow-manifests",
+			output:   ".github/workflows/azure-kubernetes-service.yml",
+			values: map[string]string{
+				"WORKFLOWNAME": "deploy", "BRANCHNAME": "main",
+				"ACRRESOURCEGROUP": "acr-rg", "AZURECONTAINERREGISTRY": "registry",
+				"CONTAINERNAME": "app", "CLUSTERRESOURCEGROUP": "cluster-rg",
+				"CLUSTERNAME": "cluster", "DOCKERFILE": "./Dockerfile",
+				"BUILDCONTEXTPATH": ".", "NAMESPACE": "default",
+				"DEPLOYMENTMANIFESTPATH": paths,
+			},
+			lookup: func(doc map[string]any) any { return doc["env"].(map[string]any)["DEPLOYMENT_MANIFEST_PATH"] },
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, testCase := range testCases {
+		t.Run(testCase.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			writer := &writers.FileMapWriter{FileMap: make(map[string][]byte)}
+			tpl, err := GetTemplate(testCase.template, "", ".", writer)
+			assert.Nil(t, err)
+			for name, value := range testCase.values {
+				tpl.Config.SetVariable(name, value)
+			}
+			assert.Nil(t, tpl.Generate())
+
+			var doc map[string]any
+			assert.Nil(t, yaml.Unmarshal(writer.FileMap[testCase.output], &doc))
+			assert.Equal(t, paths, testCase.lookup(doc))
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/template/azurePipelines/manifests/draft.yaml b/template/azurePipelines/manifests/draft.yaml
index 8459c160..9c41b90e 100644
--- a/template/azurePipelines/manifests/draft.yaml
+++ b/template/azurePipelines/manifests/draft.yaml
@@ -57,11 +57,11 @@ variables:
     versions: ">=0.0.1"
   - name: "MANIFESTPATH"
     type: "string"
-    kind: "dirPath"
+    kind: "dirPathList"
     default:
       disablePrompt: true
       value: "./manifests/*"
-    description: "the path to the Kubernetes deployment manifest"
+    description: "one or more newline-separated paths to Kubernetes deployment manifests"
     versions: ">=0.0.1"
   - name: "NAMESPACE"
     type: "string"
diff --git a/template/workflows/manifests/draft.yaml b/template/workflows/manifests/draft.yaml
index bc3b715f..9e85105e 100644
--- a/template/workflows/manifests/draft.yaml
+++ b/template/workflows/manifests/draft.yaml
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ variables:
     versions: ">=0.0.1"
   - name: "DEPLOYMENTMANIFESTPATH"
     type: "string"
-    kind: "dirPath"
+    kind: "dirPathList"
     default:
       disablePrompt: true
       value: "./manifests"
-    description: "the path to the Kubernetes deployment manifest"
+    description: "one or more newline-separated paths to Kubernetes deployment manifests"
     versions: ">=0.0.1"
   - name: "DOCKERFILE"
     type: "string"