diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index fef146085..95b30d88a 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ repos:
     -   id: blacken-docs
 
 -   repo: https://github.com/asottile/reorder_python_imports.git
-    rev: v2.7.1
+    rev: v3.0.1
     hooks:
     - id: reorder-python-imports
       language_version: python3.10
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ repos:
     -   id: flake8
 
 -   repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/mirrors-mypy
-    rev: v0.931
+    rev: v0.940
     hooks:
     -   id: mypy
         args: [--ignore-missing-imports]
diff --git a/alembic/versions/2022-03-10_add_instance_and_drop_use_case_from_.py b/alembic/versions/2022-03-10_add_instance_and_drop_use_case_from_.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1dd959e74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alembic/versions/2022-03-10_add_instance_and_drop_use_case_from_.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+"""add_instance_and_drop_use_case_from_variables
+
+Revision ID: 7ed1ef8a6308
+Revises: 0a64fe57718d
+Create Date: 2022-03-10 10:37:46.956974
+
+"""
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import UUID
+
+from alembic import op
+
+
+revision = "7ed1ef8a6308"
+down_revision = "0a64fe57718d"
+branch_labels = None
+depends_on = None
+
+
+def upgrade():
+    op.add_column(
+        "variables",
+        sa.Column(
+            "instance_id",
+            sa.Integer,
+            nullable=False,
+        ),
+    )
+    op.drop_column("variables", "use_case_uuid")
+
+
+def downgrade():
+    op.add_column(
+        "variables",
+        sa.Column(
+            "use_case_uuid",
+            UUID,
+            sa.ForeignKey("use_cases.uuid", ondelete="CASCADE"),
+            nullable=False,
+        ),
+    )
+    op.drop_column("variables", "instance_id")
diff --git a/requirements-base.txt b/requirements-base.txt
index 796643985..d538c7f57 100644
--- a/requirements-base.txt
+++ b/requirements-base.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # File generated automatically. Do not update it manually.
 # Update files in the requirements folder instead.
-pip==22.0.3
-setuptools==60.8.2
+pip==22.0.4
+setuptools==60.9.3
 wheel==0.37.1
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index c625d3a0f..fc9a4f57e 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -8,53 +8,53 @@ asgiref==3.5.0
 astroid==2.9.3
 attrs==21.4.0
 black==22.1.0
-boto3==1.20.52
-botocore==1.23.52
+boto3==1.21.18
+botocore==1.24.18
 callee==0.3.1
 certifi==2021.10.8
 cffi==1.15.0
 cfgv==3.3.1
-charset-normalizer==2.0.11
-click==8.0.3
+charset-normalizer==2.0.12
+click==8.0.4
 content-size-limit-asgi==0.1.5
 cryptography==36.0.1
-decopatch==1.4.9
+decopatch==1.4.10
 dependency-injector==4.38.0
 distlib==0.3.4
 factory-boy==3.2.1
-Faker==12.2.0
-fastapi==0.73.0
-filelock==3.4.2
-Flask==2.0.2
-freezegun==1.1.0
+Faker==13.3.2
+fastapi==0.75.0
+filelock==3.6.0
+Flask==2.0.3
+freezegun==1.2.0
 funcy==1.17
 greenlet==1.1.2
 gunicorn==20.1.0
 h11==0.13.0
-identify==2.4.9
+identify==2.4.11
 idna==3.3
 iniconfig==1.1.1
 isort==5.10.1
-itsdangerous==2.0.1
+itsdangerous==2.1.1
 Jinja2==3.0.3
 jmespath==0.10.0
 lazy-object-proxy==1.7.1
 makefun==1.13.1
-Mako==1.1.6
-MarkupSafe==2.0.1
-marshmallow==3.14.1
+Mako==1.2.0
+MarkupSafe==2.1.0
+marshmallow==3.15.0
 marshmallow-dataclass==8.5.3
 marshmallow-enum==1.5.1
 mccabe==0.6.1
 more-itertools==8.12.0
-moto==3.0.3
-mypy==0.931
+moto==3.1.0
+mypy==0.940
 mypy-extensions==0.4.3
 nodeenv==1.6.0
 packaging==21.3
 pathspec==0.9.0
 pika==1.2.0
-platformdirs==2.5.0
+platformdirs==2.5.1
 pluggy==1.0.0
 pre-commit==2.17.0
 psycopg2-binary==2.9.3
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ pycparser==2.21
 pydantic==1.9.0
 pylint==2.12.2
 pyparsing==3.0.7
-pytest==7.0.0
-pytest-cases==3.6.9
+pytest==7.1.0
+pytest-cases==3.6.10
 pytest-freezegun==0.4.2
 pytest-mock==3.7.0
 pytest-pycharm==0.7.0
@@ -76,12 +76,12 @@ python-multipart==0.0.5
 pytz==2021.3
 PyYAML==6.0
 requests==2.27.1
-responses==0.18.0
-s3transfer==0.5.1
-sentry-sdk==1.5.4
+responses==0.19.0
+s3transfer==0.5.2
+sentry-sdk==1.5.7
 six==1.16.0
 sniffio==1.2.0
-SQLAlchemy==1.4.31
+SQLAlchemy==1.4.32
 sqlalchemy-repr==0.0.2
 starlette==0.17.1
 -e git+ssh://git@github.com/Destygo/pystatsd.git@c755b95da1f4692c49b8191f9ea0ef92f4c13c2c#egg=statsd
@@ -89,10 +89,10 @@ toml==0.10.2
 tomli==2.0.1
 typeguard==2.13.3
 typing-inspect==0.7.1
-typing_extensions==4.0.1
+typing_extensions==4.1.1
 urllib3==1.26.8
-uvicorn==0.17.4
-virtualenv==20.13.1
+uvicorn==0.17.6
+virtualenv==20.13.3
 Werkzeug==2.0.3
 wrapt==1.13.3
 xmltodict==0.12.0
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index fc2284949..45b0429f4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,45 +3,47 @@
 alembic==1.7.6
 anyio==3.5.0
 asgiref==3.5.0
-boto3==1.20.52
-botocore==1.23.52
+boto3==1.21.18
+botocore==1.24.18
 certifi==2021.10.8
-charset-normalizer==2.0.11
-click==8.0.3
+charset-normalizer==2.0.12
+click==8.0.4
 content-size-limit-asgi==0.1.5
 dependency-injector==4.38.0
-fastapi==0.73.0
+fastapi==0.75.0
 funcy==1.17
 greenlet==1.1.2
 gunicorn==20.1.0
 h11==0.13.0
 idna==3.3
 jmespath==0.10.0
-Mako==1.1.6
-MarkupSafe==2.0.1
-marshmallow==3.14.1
+Mako==1.2.0
+MarkupSafe==2.1.0
+marshmallow==3.15.0
 marshmallow-dataclass==8.5.3
 marshmallow-enum==1.5.1
 more-itertools==8.12.0
 mypy-extensions==0.4.3
+packaging==21.3
 pika==1.2.0
 psycopg2-binary==2.9.3
 pydantic==1.9.0
+pyparsing==3.0.7
 python-dateutil==2.8.2
 python-dotenv==0.19.2
 python-magic==0.4.25
 python-multipart==0.0.5
 requests==2.27.1
-s3transfer==0.5.1
-sentry-sdk==1.5.4
+s3transfer==0.5.2
+sentry-sdk==1.5.7
 six==1.16.0
 sniffio==1.2.0
-SQLAlchemy==1.4.31
+SQLAlchemy==1.4.32
 sqlalchemy-repr==0.0.2
 starlette==0.17.1
 -e git+ssh://git@github.com/Destygo/pystatsd.git@c755b95da1f4692c49b8191f9ea0ef92f4c13c2c#egg=statsd
 typeguard==2.13.3
 typing-inspect==0.7.1
-typing_extensions==4.0.1
+typing_extensions==4.1.1
 urllib3==1.26.8
-uvicorn==0.17.4
+uvicorn==0.17.6
diff --git a/tests/api/namespace/test_variables.py b/tests/api/namespace/test_variables.py
index 80d43239b..657f44546 100644
--- a/tests/api/namespace/test_variables.py
+++ b/tests/api/namespace/test_variables.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-# pylint: disable=redefined-outer-name
-import uuid
 from datetime import datetime
 from datetime import timedelta
 
@@ -8,29 +6,23 @@
 import pytest
 
 from tests import test_patterns
-from tests.factories.use_case_factory import UseCaseFactory
 from tests.factories.variable_factory import VariableFactory
 from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.variable import Variable
 
 
-@pytest.fixture
-def creation_payload():
-    return {"name": "My variable"}
-
-
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("missing_key", ["name"])
-def test_create_fails_if_missing_key(missing_key, creation_payload, client, session):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("missing_key", ["instance_id", "name"])
+def test_create_fails_if_missing_key(missing_key, client, session):
     response = client.post(
-        f"/use_cases/{uuid.uuid4()}/variables",
-        json=funcy.omit(creation_payload, [missing_key]),
+        "/variables",
+        json=funcy.omit({"instance_id": 123, "name": "My variable"}, [missing_key]),
     )
     assert response.status_code == 422
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("key,wrong_value", [("name", 123)])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("key, wrong_value", [("instance_id", "abc"), ("name", 123)])
 def test_create_fails_if_wrong_type_key(key, wrong_value, client, session):
     response = client.post(
-        f"/use_cases/{uuid.uuid4()}/variables",
+        "/variables",
         json=funcy.set_in(
             {"instance_id": 123, "name": "My variable"}, [key], wrong_value
         ),
@@ -38,62 +30,57 @@ def test_create_fails_if_wrong_type_key(key, wrong_value, client, session):
     assert response.status_code == 422
 
 
-def test_create_fails_if_unknown_use_case(creation_payload, client, session):
-    response = client.post(
-        f"/use_cases/{uuid.uuid4()}/variables",
-        json=creation_payload,
-    )
-    assert response.status_code == 404
-
-
-def test_create_variable_with_correct_parameters_works(
-    creation_payload,
+def test_create_variable_with_correct_parameters_work(
     client,
     session,
 ):
-    use_case = UseCaseFactory()
     response = client.post(
-        f"/use_cases/{use_case.uuid}/variables", json=creation_payload
+        "/variables", json={"instance_id": 123, "name": "My variable"}
     )
     assert response.status_code == 200
     assert response.json() == {
         "uuid": callee.Regex(test_patterns.UUID_PATTERN),
         "name": "My variable",
-        "use_case_uuid": str(use_case.uuid),
+        "instance_id": 123,
     }
 
     variable = session.query(Variable).one()
 
     assert variable.uuid == callee.Regex(test_patterns.UUID_PATTERN)
     assert variable.name == "My variable"
-    assert variable.use_case_uuid == use_case.uuid
+    assert variable.instance_id == 123
     now = datetime.utcnow()
     margin = timedelta(seconds=15)
     assert now - margin <= variable.created_at <= now
 
 
-def test_list_variables_fails_if_unknown_use_case(creation_payload, session, client):
-    response = client.get(
-        f"/use_cases/{uuid.uuid4()}/variables",
-    )
-    assert response.status_code == 404
+def test_list_variables_fails_if_no_instance_scope(session, client):
+    response = client.get("/variables")
+    assert response.status_code == 422
+    assert response.json() == {
+        "detail": [
+            {
+                "loc": ["query", "instance_id"],
+                "msg": "field required",
+                "type": "value_error.missing",
+            }
+        ]
+    }
 
 
 def test_list_variables_filters_by_instance(session, client):
-    v = VariableFactory()
-    VariableFactory()  # variable on another use case
+    variable = VariableFactory(instance_id=123)
+    VariableFactory(instance_id=456)  # decoy
 
-    response = client.get(
-        f"/use_cases/{v.use_case_uuid}/variables",
-    )
+    response = client.get("/variables?instance_id=123")
     assert response.status_code == 200
 
     assert response.json() == {
         "variables": [
             {
                 "uuid": callee.Regex(test_patterns.UUID_PATTERN),
-                "name": v.name,
-                "use_case_uuid": str(v.use_case_uuid),
+                "name": variable.name,
+                "instance_id": 123,
             }
         ]
     }
diff --git a/tests/factories/variable_factory.py b/tests/factories/variable_factory.py
index 9937ccca3..e9f5503a9 100644
--- a/tests/factories/variable_factory.py
+++ b/tests/factories/variable_factory.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 from factory import alchemy
 
 from tests import common
-from tests.factories.use_case_factory import UseCaseFactory
 from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.variable import Variable
 
 
@@ -12,5 +11,5 @@ class Meta:
         sqlalchemy_session = common.test_session
         sqlalchemy_session_persistence = alchemy.SESSION_PERSISTENCE_COMMIT
 
-    use_case = factory.SubFactory(UseCaseFactory)
+    instance_id = factory.fuzzy.FuzzyInteger(1, 3)
     name = factory.fuzzy.FuzzyText()
diff --git a/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/use_case.py b/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/use_case.py
index 3da3ca353..97937d718 100644
--- a/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/use_case.py
+++ b/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/use_case.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.use_case_version import (
     UseCaseVersion,
 )
-from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.variable import Variable
 from use_case_executor.domain.use_case.use_case import UseCase as DomainUseCase
 from use_case_executor.helpers import utils
 from use_case_executor.monitoring import monitored_funcs
@@ -40,12 +39,6 @@ class UseCase(Base):
         foreign_keys=[UseCaseVersion.use_case_uuid],
         cascade="all,delete",
     )
-    variables = relationship(
-        "Variable",
-        back_populates="use_case",
-        foreign_keys=[Variable.use_case_uuid],
-        cascade="all,delete",
-    )
 
     @monitored_funcs.monitored_query("use_case_latest_version")
     def get_latest_version(self) -> Optional[UseCaseVersion]:
diff --git a/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/variable.py b/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/variable.py
index 938d19abf..5c0f43c1f 100644
--- a/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/variable.py
+++ b/use_case_executor/adapters/database_repository/models/variable.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import sqlalchemy as sa
 from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import UUID
-from sqlalchemy.orm import relationship
 from sqlalchemy.sql.functions import func
 
 from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.base import Base
@@ -14,19 +13,13 @@ class Variable(Base):
         UUID, primary_key=True, server_default=sa.text("uuid_generate_v4()")
     )
     created_at = sa.Column(sa.DateTime, nullable=False, server_default=func.now())
-    use_case_uuid = sa.Column(
-        UUID(as_uuid=True),
-        sa.ForeignKey("use_cases.uuid", ondelete="CASCADE"),
-        nullable=False,
-    )
     name = sa.Column(sa.String, nullable=False)
-
-    use_case = relationship("UseCase", foreign_keys=[use_case_uuid])
+    instance_id = sa.Column(sa.Integer, nullable=False)
 
     def to_domain_object(self) -> DomainVariable:
         return DomainVariable(
             uuid=self.uuid,
             name=self.name,
-            use_case_uuid=self.use_case_uuid,
+            instance_id=self.instance_id,
             created_at=self.created_at,
         )
diff --git a/use_case_executor/api/app_maker.py b/use_case_executor/api/app_maker.py
index 5d21c04b2..7d0fde021 100644
--- a/use_case_executor/api/app_maker.py
+++ b/use_case_executor/api/app_maker.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from use_case_executor.api.namespaces import image_upload
 from use_case_executor.api.namespaces import model_mappings
 from use_case_executor.api.namespaces import root
+from use_case_executor.api.namespaces import variables
 from use_case_executor.api.namespaces.use_cases import use_cases
 from use_case_executor.monitoring import statsd_connector
 
@@ -74,5 +75,6 @@ def create_app() -> FastAPI:
     fastapi_app.include_router(model_mappings.router)
     fastapi_app.include_router(root.router)
     fastapi_app.include_router(use_cases.router)
+    fastapi_app.include_router(variables.router)
 
     return fastapi_app
diff --git a/use_case_executor/api/namespaces/use_cases/variables.py b/use_case_executor/api/namespaces/use_cases/variables.py
deleted file mode 100644
index bf1f3c2b0..000000000
--- a/use_case_executor/api/namespaces/use_cases/variables.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-from uuid import UUID
-
-from fastapi import Depends
-from pydantic import BaseModel
-from pydantic import StrictStr
-from pydantic import UUID4
-from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
-
-from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.variable import Variable
-from use_case_executor.api.database_helpers import db_session
-from use_case_executor.api.database_helpers import get_db_session
-from use_case_executor.api.namespaces.use_cases import helpers
-from use_case_executor.api.namespaces.use_cases.use_cases import router
-
-
-class VariableModelIn(BaseModel):
-    name: StrictStr
-
-
-class VariableModelOut(VariableModelIn):
-    uuid: UUID4
-    use_case_uuid: UUID4
-
-
-class VariablesModelOut(BaseModel):
-    variables: list[VariableModelOut]
-
-
-@router.post("/{use_case_uuid}/variables", response_model=VariableModelOut)
-def create_variable(
-    use_case_uuid: UUID4,
-    variable_body: VariableModelIn,
-    db: Session = Depends(get_db_session),
-) -> VariableModelOut:
-    db_session.set(db)
-
-    use_case = helpers.get_use_case_or_raise_not_found_error(
-        use_case_uuid=use_case_uuid
-    )
-    variable = Variable(
-        name=variable_body.name,
-        use_case=use_case,
-    )
-    db.add(variable)
-    db.commit()
-    return VariableModelOut(
-        name=variable.name, use_case_uuid=variable.use_case_uuid, uuid=variable.uuid
-    )
-
-
-@router.get("/{use_case_uuid}/variables", response_model=VariablesModelOut)
-def read_variables(
-    use_case_uuid: UUID4,
-    db: Session = Depends(get_db_session),
-) -> VariablesModelOut:
-    db_session.set(db)
-    helpers.get_use_case_or_raise_not_found_error(use_case_uuid=use_case_uuid)
-    variables = _get_variables(session=db, use_case_uuid=use_case_uuid)
-    return VariablesModelOut(
-        variables=[
-            VariableModelOut(
-                name=variable.name,
-                use_case_uuid=variable.use_case_uuid,
-                uuid=variable.uuid,
-            )
-            for variable in variables
-        ]
-    )
-
-
-def _get_variables(session: Session, use_case_uuid: UUID) -> list[Variable]:
-    return session.query(Variable).filter(Variable.use_case_uuid == use_case_uuid).all()
diff --git a/use_case_executor/api/namespaces/variables.py b/use_case_executor/api/namespaces/variables.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b15082722
--- /dev/null
+++ b/use_case_executor/api/namespaces/variables.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+from fastapi import APIRouter
+from fastapi import Depends
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+from pydantic import StrictInt
+from pydantic import StrictStr
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
+
+from use_case_executor.adapters.database_repository.models.variable import Variable
+from use_case_executor.api.database_helpers import db_session
+from use_case_executor.api.database_helpers import get_db_session
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/variables", tags=["variables"])
+
+
+class VariableModelIn(BaseModel):
+    name: StrictStr
+    instance_id: StrictInt
+
+
+class VariableModelOut(VariableModelIn):
+    uuid: StrictStr
+
+
+class VariablesModelOut(BaseModel):
+    variables: list[VariableModelOut]
+
+
+@router.post("", response_model=VariableModelOut)
+def create_variable(
+    variable_body: VariableModelIn,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db_session),
+) -> VariableModelOut:
+    db_session.set(db)
+    variable = Variable(
+        name=variable_body.name,
+        instance_id=variable_body.instance_id,
+    )
+    db.add(variable)
+    db.commit()
+    return VariableModelOut(
+        name=variable.name, instance_id=variable.instance_id, uuid=variable.uuid
+    )
+
+
+@router.get("", response_model=VariablesModelOut)
+def read_variables(
+    instance_id: int,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db_session),
+) -> VariablesModelOut:
+    db_session.set(db)
+    variables = _get_variables(session=db, instance_id=instance_id)
+    return VariablesModelOut(
+        variables=[
+            VariableModelOut(
+                name=variable.name, instance_id=variable.instance_id, uuid=variable.uuid
+            )
+            for variable in variables
+        ]
+    )
+
+
+def _get_variables(session: Session, instance_id: int) -> list[Variable]:
+    return session.query(Variable).filter(Variable.instance_id == instance_id).all()
diff --git a/use_case_executor/domain/variables/variable.py b/use_case_executor/domain/variables/variable.py
index 2556ee764..aacf18e53 100644
--- a/use_case_executor/domain/variables/variable.py
+++ b/use_case_executor/domain/variables/variable.py
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@
 class Variable:
     uuid: UUID
     name: str
-    use_case_uuid: UUID
+    instance_id: int
     created_at: dt.datetime