Secret: SESSION_SIGNING_KEY

Purpose: HMAC for Athena session cookies.

Source: GitHub Secrets → compose env

Rotation runbook: /docs/operate/rotation/session-signing-key-rotation

⚠️ Critical

This secret is operationally critical. Loss or compromise has significant impact:

• If lost: data may be unrecoverable (encryption case).
• If compromised: rotate immediately and audit access.

How it's used

Loaded at container startup. Failure to read the secret usually causes a fatal startup error.

How to rotate

See the linked runbook above. Most secrets have a documented zero-downtime rotation procedure.

Related

• Security, Secrets management, full inventory.
• Operate, Secrets audit, quarterly cadence.