diff --git a/docs/using-jellyseerr/settings/general.md b/docs/using-jellyseerr/settings/general.md
index 9cec9b9f3..61991ed0a 100644
--- a/docs/using-jellyseerr/settings/general.md
+++ b/docs/using-jellyseerr/settings/general.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ This is your Jellyseerr API key, which can be used to integrate Jellyseerr with
 
 If you need to generate a new API key for any reason, simply click the button to the right of the text box.
 
+If you want to set the API key, rather than letting it be randomly generated, you can use the API_KEY environment variable. Whatever that variable is set to will be your API key.
+
 ## Application Title
 
 If you aren't a huge fan of the name "Jellyseerr" and would like to display something different to your users, you can customize the application title!
diff --git a/server/lib/settings/index.ts b/server/lib/settings/index.ts
index 8c55d6c3d..074a4fcdc 100644
--- a/server/lib/settings/index.ts
+++ b/server/lib/settings/index.ts
@@ -611,7 +611,11 @@ class Settings {
   }
 
   private generateApiKey(): string {
-    return Buffer.from(`${Date.now()}${randomUUID()}`).toString('base64');
+    if (process.env.API_KEY) {
+      return process.env.API_KEY;
+    } else {
+      return Buffer.from(`${Date.now()}${randomUUID()}`).toString('base64');
+    }
   }
 
   private generateVapidKeys(force = false): void {
@@ -648,6 +652,12 @@ class Settings {
 
       this.data = merge(this.data, parsedJson);
 
+      if (process.env.API_KEY) {
+        if (this.main.apiKey != process.env.API_KEY) {
+          this.main.apiKey = process.env.API_KEY;
+        }
+      }
+
       this.save();
     }
     return this;