diff --git a/rewrite-yaml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValue.java b/rewrite-yaml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValue.java
index 3d1caf72117..77d5e923458 100644
--- a/rewrite-yaml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValue.java
+++ b/rewrite-yaml/src/main/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValue.java
@@ -72,7 +72,8 @@ public String getInstanceNameSuffix() {
     public String getDescription() {
         return "Copies a YAML value from one key to another. " +
                "The existing key/value pair remains unaffected by this change. " +
-               "If either the source key path does not exist, no value will be copied.";
+               "Attempts to merge the copied value into the new key if it already exists. " +
+               "Attempts to create the new key if it does not exist.";
     }
 
     @Data
@@ -92,6 +93,15 @@ public Accumulator getInitialValue(ExecutionContext ctx) {
     public TreeVisitor<?, ExecutionContext> getScanner(Accumulator acc) {
         TreeVisitor<?, ExecutionContext> visitor = new YamlIsoVisitor<ExecutionContext>() {
             final JsonPathMatcher oldPathMatcher = new JsonPathMatcher(oldKeyPath);
+
+            @Override
+            public Yaml.Documents visitDocuments(Yaml.Documents documents, ExecutionContext executionContext) {
+                if(acc.snippet == null) {
+                    return super.visitDocuments(documents, executionContext);
+                }
+                return documents;
+            }
+
             @Override
             public Yaml.Mapping.Entry visitMappingEntry(Yaml.Mapping.Entry entry, ExecutionContext ctx) {
                 Yaml.Mapping.Entry source = super.visitMappingEntry(entry, ctx);
diff --git a/rewrite-yaml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValueTest.java b/rewrite-yaml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValueTest.java
index dca3fdd178d..6e527d51784 100644
--- a/rewrite-yaml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValueTest.java
+++ b/rewrite-yaml/src/test/java/org/openrewrite/yaml/CopyValueTest.java
@@ -32,6 +32,26 @@ public void defaults(RecipeSpec spec) {
         spec.executionContext(ctx);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void changeCurrentFileWhenNull() {
+        rewriteRun(
+          spec -> spec.recipe(
+            new CopyValue("$.source", null, "$.destination", null)
+          ),
+          yaml(
+            """
+              source: value
+              destination: original
+              """,
+            """
+              source: value
+              destination: value
+              """,
+            spec -> spec.path("a.yml")
+          )
+        );
+    }
+
     @Test
     void changeOnlyMatchingFile() {
         rewriteRun(