| #https://www.notion.so/n8n/Frontmatter-432c2b8dff1f43d4b1c8d20075510fe4 | |
| title: Set a custom encryption key | |
| description: Set a custom encryption key for n8n to securely encrypt credentials. | |
| contentType: howto | |
| # Set a custom encryption key | |
| n8n creates a random encryption key automatically on the first launch and saves | |
| it in the `~/.n8n` folder. n8n uses that key to encrypt the credentials before | |
| they get saved to the database. If the key isn't yet in the settings file, | |
| you can set it using an environment variable, so that n8n | |
| uses your custom key instead of generating a new one. | |
| In [queue mode](/hosting/scaling/queue-mode.md), you must specify the encryption key environment variable for all workers. | |
| ```bash | |
| export N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<SOME RANDOM STRING> | |
| ``` | |
| Refer to [Environment variables reference](/hosting/configuration/environment-variables/deployment.md) for more information on this variable. | |