diff --git a/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/dashboard.go b/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/dashboard.go
index 774e96490f..0e6c36eb66 100644
--- a/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/dashboard.go
+++ b/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/dashboard.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const rootRuntimeDependencyNode = "rootRuntimeDependencyNode"
-const runtimeDependencyDashboardScope = "self"
+const RuntimeDependencyDashboardScope = "self"
 
 // Dashboard is a struct representing the Dashboard  resource
 type Dashboard struct {
diff --git a/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/parsed_property_path.go b/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/parsed_property_path.go
index 5539fd62c1..b91d353f4a 100644
--- a/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/parsed_property_path.go
+++ b/pkg/steampipeconfig/modconfig/parsed_property_path.go
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ type ParsedPropertyPath struct {
 	ItemType     string
 	Name         string
 	PropertyPath []string
-	// optional scope of this property path ("root or parent")
+	// optional scope of this property path ("self")
 	Scope    string
 	Original string
 }
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func ParseResourcePropertyPath(propertyPath string) (*ParsedPropertyPath, error)
 	}
 
 	// special case handling for runtime dependencies which may have use the "self" qualifier
-	if parts[0] == runtimeDependencyDashboardScope {
+	if parts[0] == RuntimeDependencyDashboardScope {
 		res.Scope = parts[0]
 		parts = parts[1:]
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/steampipeconfig/parse/decode_args.go b/pkg/steampipeconfig/parse/decode_args.go
index b5e965098e..12dfbe265f 100644
--- a/pkg/steampipeconfig/parse/decode_args.go
+++ b/pkg/steampipeconfig/parse/decode_args.go
@@ -183,6 +183,12 @@ func getRuntimeDepFromExpression(expr hcl.Expression, targetProperty, parentProp
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
+	if propertyPath.ItemType == modconfig.BlockTypeInput {
+		// tactical: validate input dependency
+		if err := validateInputRuntimeDependency(propertyPath); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
 	ret := &modconfig.RuntimeDependency{
 		PropertyPath:       propertyPath,
 		ParentPropertyName: parentProperty,
@@ -248,6 +254,12 @@ func identifyRuntimeDependenciesFromArray(attr *hcl.Attribute, idx int, parentPr
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
+			// tactical: validate input dependency
+			if propertyPath.ItemType == modconfig.BlockTypeInput {
+				if err := validateInputRuntimeDependency(propertyPath); err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+			}
 			ret := &modconfig.RuntimeDependency{
 				PropertyPath:        propertyPath,
 				ParentPropertyName:  parentProperty,
@@ -261,6 +273,18 @@ func identifyRuntimeDependenciesFromArray(attr *hcl.Attribute, idx int, parentPr
 	return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not extract runtime dependency for arg %d - not found in attribute list", idx)
 }
 
+// tactical - if runtime dependency is an input, validate it is of correct format
+// TODO - include this with the main runtime dependency validaiton, when it is rewritten https://github.com/turbot/steampipe/issues/2925
+func validateInputRuntimeDependency(propertyPath *modconfig.ParsedPropertyPath) error {
+	// input references must be of form self.input.<input_name>.value
+	if propertyPath.Scope != modconfig.RuntimeDependencyDashboardScope ||
+		len(propertyPath.PropertyPath) != 1 ||
+		propertyPath.PropertyPath[0] != "value" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("could not resolve runtime dependency resource %s", propertyPath.Original)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func decodeParam(block *hcl.Block, parseCtx *ModParseContext) (*modconfig.ParamDef, []*modconfig.RuntimeDependency, hcl.Diagnostics) {
 	def := modconfig.NewParamDef(block)
 	var runtimeDependencies []*modconfig.RuntimeDependency
diff --git a/tests/manual_testing/node_reuse/inputs/dashboard.sp b/tests/manual_testing/node_reuse/inputs/dashboard.sp
index cf15682e1d..964d2ff67c 100644
--- a/tests/manual_testing/node_reuse/inputs/dashboard.sp
+++ b/tests/manual_testing/node_reuse/inputs/dashboard.sp
@@ -13,12 +13,10 @@ dashboard "inputs" {
   }
 
   table {
-    param "foo" {}
     sql = "select $1"
-    args  = {
-      arn = self.input.i1.value
-    }
+    args  =[self.input.i1.value]
   }
+  
   table {
     query = query.q1
     args  = {
@@ -31,5 +29,5 @@ dashboard "inputs" {
 query "q1"{
   sql = "select arn from aws_account where arn = $1"
   param "arn" {   }
-  search_path="test"
+
 }