diff --git a/topdown/copypropagation/copypropagation.go b/topdown/copypropagation/copypropagation.go
index 82490ca23f..820184b660 100644
--- a/topdown/copypropagation/copypropagation.go
+++ b/topdown/copypropagation/copypropagation.go
@@ -82,10 +82,6 @@ func (p *CopyPropagator) Apply(query ast.Body) (result ast.Body) {
 
 	for _, expr := range query {
 
-		// Deep copy the expr as it may be mutated below. The caller that is running
-		// copy propagation may hold references to the expr.
-		expr = expr.Copy()
-
 		pctx := &plugContext{
 			bindings: bindings,
 			uf:       uf,
@@ -93,7 +89,7 @@ func (p *CopyPropagator) Apply(query ast.Body) (result ast.Body) {
 			headvars: headvars,
 		}
 
-		if p.plugBindings(pctx, expr) {
+		if expr, keep := p.plugBindings(pctx, expr); keep {
 			if p.updateBindings(pctx, expr) {
 				result.Append(expr)
 			}
@@ -151,62 +147,94 @@ func (p *CopyPropagator) Apply(query ast.Body) (result ast.Body) {
 
 // plugBindings applies the binding list and union-find to x. This process
 // removes as many variables as possible.
-func (p *CopyPropagator) plugBindings(pctx *plugContext, x interface{}) bool {
+func (p *CopyPropagator) plugBindings(pctx *plugContext, expr *ast.Expr) (*ast.Expr, bool) {
 
 	// Kill single term expressions that are in the binding list. They will be
 	// re-added during post-processing if needed.
-	if expr, ok := x.(*ast.Expr); ok {
-		if term, ok := expr.Terms.(*ast.Term); ok {
-			if v, ok := term.Value.(ast.Var); ok {
-				if root, ok := pctx.uf.Find(v); ok {
-					if _, ok := pctx.bindings[root.key]; ok {
-						return false
-					}
+	if term, ok := expr.Terms.(*ast.Term); ok {
+		if v, ok := term.Value.(ast.Var); ok {
+			if root, ok := pctx.uf.Find(v); ok {
+				if _, ok := pctx.bindings[root.key]; ok {
+					return nil, false
 				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	ast.WalkTerms(x, func(t *ast.Term) bool {
-		// Apply union-find to remove redundant variables from input.
-		switch v := t.Value.(type) {
-		case ast.Var:
-			if root, ok := pctx.uf.Find(v); ok {
-				t.Value = root.Value()
-			}
-		case ast.Ref:
-			if root, ok := pctx.uf.Find(v[0].Value.(ast.Var)); ok {
-				v[0].Value = root.Value()
+	xform := bindingPlugTransform{
+		pctx: pctx,
+	}
+
+	// Deep copy the expression as it may be mutated during the transform and
+	// the caller running copy propagation may have references to the
+	// expression. Note, the transform does not contain any error paths and
+	// should never return a non-expression value for the root so consider
+	// errors unreachable.
+	x, err := ast.Transform(xform, expr.Copy())
+
+	if expr, ok := x.(*ast.Expr); !ok || err != nil {
+		panic("unreachable")
+	} else {
+		return expr, true
+	}
+}
+
+type bindingPlugTransform struct {
+	pctx *plugContext
+}
+
+func (t bindingPlugTransform) Transform(x interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
+	switch x := x.(type) {
+	case ast.Var:
+		return t.plugBindingsVar(t.pctx, x), nil
+	case ast.Ref:
+		return t.plugBindingsRef(t.pctx, x), nil
+	default:
+		return x, nil
+	}
+}
+
+func (t bindingPlugTransform) plugBindingsVar(pctx *plugContext, v ast.Var) (result ast.Value) {
+
+	result = v
+
+	// Apply union-find to remove redundant variables from input.
+	if root, ok := pctx.uf.Find(v); ok {
+		result = root.Value()
+	}
+
+	// Apply binding list to substitute remaining vars.
+	if v, ok := result.(ast.Var); ok {
+		if b, ok := pctx.bindings[v]; ok {
+			if !pctx.negated || b.v.IsGround() {
+				result = b.v
 			}
 		}
-		// Apply binding list to substitute remaining vars.
-		switch v := t.Value.(type) {
-		case ast.Var:
-			if b, ok := pctx.bindings[v]; ok {
-				if !pctx.negated || b.v.IsGround() {
-					t.Value = b.v
-				}
-				return true
-			}
-		case ast.Ref:
-			// Refs require special handling. If the head of the ref was killed, then the
-			// rest of the ref must be concatenated with the new base.
-			//
-			// Invariant: ref heads can only be replaced by refs (not calls).
-			if b, ok := pctx.bindings[v[0].Value.(ast.Var)]; ok {
-				if !pctx.negated || b.v.IsGround() {
-					t.Value = b.v.(ast.Ref).Concat(v[1:])
-				}
-			}
-			for i := 1; i < len(v); i++ {
-				p.plugBindings(pctx, v[i])
-			}
-			return true
+	}
+
+	return result
+}
+
+func (t bindingPlugTransform) plugBindingsRef(pctx *plugContext, v ast.Ref) ast.Ref {
+
+	// Apply union-find to remove redundant variables from input.
+	if root, ok := pctx.uf.Find(v[0].Value.(ast.Var)); ok {
+		v[0].Value = root.Value()
+	}
+
+	result := v
+
+	// Refs require special handling. If the head of the ref was killed, then
+	// the rest of the ref must be concatenated with the new base.
+	//
+	// Invariant: ref heads can only be replaced by refs (not calls).
+	if b, ok := pctx.bindings[v[0].Value.(ast.Var)]; ok {
+		if !pctx.negated || b.v.IsGround() {
+			result = b.v.(ast.Ref).Concat(v[1:])
 		}
-		return false
-	})
+	}
 
-	return true
+	return result
 }
 
 // updateBindings returns false if the expression can be killed. If the
diff --git a/topdown/topdown_partial_test.go b/topdown/topdown_partial_test.go
index 0ce7c982a1..f6fb0210dd 100644
--- a/topdown/topdown_partial_test.go
+++ b/topdown/topdown_partial_test.go
@@ -1046,6 +1046,22 @@ func TestTopDownPartialEval(t *testing.T) {
 				"not input.y = x1; x1 = input.x[i1]",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			note:  "copy propagation: rewrite object key (bug 1177)",
+			query: `data.test.p = true`,
+			modules: []string{
+				`
+					package test
+
+					p {
+						x = input.x
+						y = input.y
+						x = {y: 1}
+					}
+				`,
+			},
+			wantQueries: []string{`input.x = {input.y: 1}`},
+		},
 		{
 			note:  "save set vars are namespaced",
 			query: "input = x; data.test.f(1)",