diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.spec.ts b/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.spec.ts
index 756d12fca4be76d37f2da4f75bc03858ff7cc57b..fe8e1eca53805c50cfe4749d827ae98eb51f9efc 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.spec.ts
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ describe('modules/manager/gradle/parser', () => {
       ${''}                                         | ${'library("foo", "bar", "baz", "qux"]).version("1.2.3")'}      | ${null}
       ${''}                                         | ${'library("foo.bar", "foo", "bar").version("1.2.3", "4.5.6")'} | ${null}
       ${'group = "foo"; artifact="bar"'}            | ${'library("foo.bar", group, artifact).version("1.2.3")'}       | ${{ depName: 'foo:bar', currentValue: '1.2.3' }}
-      ${'library("foo-bar_baz-qux", "foo", "bar")'} | ${'"${foo.bar.baz.qux}:1.2.3"'}                                 | ${{ depName: 'foo:bar', currentValue: '1.2.3' }}
+      ${'library("foo-bar_baz-qux", "foo", "bar")'} | ${'"${libs.foo.bar.baz.qux}:1.2.3"'}                            | ${{ depName: 'foo:bar', currentValue: '1.2.3' }}
     `('$def | $str', async ({ def, str, output }) => {
       const input = [def, str].join('\n');
       const { deps } = await parseGradle(input);
diff --git a/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.ts b/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.ts
index 5790dbae67839602cf81fd83e5700088dc58dde2..4f064761f15cbc23ed823f19611fa6bc49ae8747 100644
--- a/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.ts
+++ b/lib/modules/manager/gradle/parser.ts
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ function processLibraryDep(input: SyntaxHandlerInput): SyntaxHandlerOutput {
   const { tokenMap } = input;
 
   const varNameToken = tokenMap.varName;
-  const key = varNameToken.value.replace(regEx(/[-_]/g), '.');
+  const key = `libs.${varNameToken.value.replace(regEx(/[-_]/g), '.')}`;
   const fileReplacePosition = varNameToken.offset;
   const packageFile = input.packageFile;