diff --git a/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/main.yml b/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/main.yml
index 22852de..a95e96f 100644
--- a/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ---
 # tasks file for ansible_openwrtdropbear
+- name: merge keys from group and host definitions
+  include_tasks: merge.yml
 - name: make sure deploypath config exists
   ansible.builtin.file:
     path: "{{ openwrt_dropbear_deploypath }}"
diff --git a/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/merge.yml b/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/merge.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c48447
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/ansible_openwrtdropbear/tasks/merge.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Merge keys
+- name: merge group keys
+  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
+    openwrt_dropbear_keysmergedgroup: "{{ openwrt_dropbear_keysgroup.keys() | list | intersect(group_names) | map('extract', openwrt_dropbear_keysgroup) | combine }}"
+  when: openwrt_dropbear_keysgroup is defined
+- name: combine all keys into openwrt_dropbear_keys
+  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
+    openwrt_dropbear_keys: "{{ openwrt_dropbear_keyshost | default([]) + openwrt_dropbear_keysmergedgroup | default([]) }}"