Inline variables in workflows will not work with objects or arrays. Objects and arrays are output as golang maps and arrays, which are not compatible with JSON. Inline variables only work with single value items, like strings, numbers, and booleans. This is why you are seeing [value1 value2 value3], because that is how golang serializes the value. As of now, there is no mechanism in workflows to make inline variables that reference arrays or objects output as JSON.