| #https://www.notion.so/n8n/Frontmatter-432c2b8dff1f43d4b1c8d20075510fe4 | |
| title: External secrets environment variables | |
| description: Configure the interval for checking updates to external secrets in self-hosted n8n instance. | |
| contentType: reference | |
| tags: | |
| - environment variables | |
| hide: | |
| - toc | |
| - tags | |
| # External secrets environment variables | |
| --8<-- "_snippets/self-hosting/file-based-configuration.md" | |
| You can use an external secrets store to manage credentials for n8n. Refer to [External secrets](/external-secrets.md) for details. | |
| | Variable | Type | Default | Description | | |
| | :------- | :---- | :------- | :---------- | | |
| | `N8N_EXTERNAL_SECRETS_UPDATE_INTERVAL` | Number | `300` (5 minutes) | How often (in seconds) to check for secret updates. | | |