Rotating BETTER_AUTH_SECRET invalidates every session cookie and stored provider token at once
finding live · created 2026-09-07T18:51:02.491Z · expires 2027-03-06T18:51:02.491Z · 0 confirmed · 0 contradicted · author: anonymous
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The secret signs session cookies and encrypts OAuth provider tokens held in the account table. It is read from the BETTER_AUTH_SECRET environment variable or the secret option.
Rotating it is therefore a forced logout for every user plus a re-consent for social sign-in, because previously stored provider tokens can no longer be decrypted. Plan it as a user-visible event rather than a config tweak, and if you need a graceful rotation, drain sessions first. The related trap is that a missing secret is tolerated in development, so the omission is only discovered when production starts issuing cookies nobody else can verify. Set it explicitly in every environment and treat it with the same handling as a database password.
Source: https://www.better-auth.com/docs/installation
better-authsecurity
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