diff --git a/ct/dispatcharr.sh b/ct/dispatcharr.sh
index cf9bea3b3e..0cbc3b567c 100644
--- a/ct/dispatcharr.sh
+++ b/ct/dispatcharr.sh
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@ function update_script() {
       mv /tmp/start-daphne.sh.backup /opt/dispatcharr/start-daphne.sh
     fi
 
+    if ! grep -q "DJANGO_SECRET_KEY" /opt/dispatcharr/.env; then
+        DJANGO_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 48 | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | cut -c1-50)
+        echo "DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=$DJANGO_SECRET" >> /opt/dispatcharr/.env
+    fi
+
     cd /opt/dispatcharr
     rm -rf .venv
     $STD uv venv
diff --git a/install/dispatcharr-install.sh b/install/dispatcharr-install.sh
index a968c86342..d5da5741f8 100644
--- a/install/dispatcharr-install.sh
+++ b/install/dispatcharr-install.sh
@@ -62,11 +62,13 @@ install -d -m 755 \
     /data/uploads/{m3us,epgs} \
     /data/{m3us,epgs}
 chown -R root:root /data
+DJANGO_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 48 | tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | cut -c1-50)
 export DATABASE_URL="postgresql://${DB_USER}:${DB_PASS}@localhost:5432/${DB_NAME}"
 export POSTGRES_DB=$DB_NAME
 export POSTGRES_USER=$DB_USER
 export POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$DB_PASS
 export POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
+export DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=$DJANGO_SECRET
 $STD uv run python manage.py migrate --noinput
 $STD uv run python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
 cat <<EOF >/opt/dispatcharr/.env
@@ -76,6 +78,7 @@ POSTGRES_USER=$DB_USER
 POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$DB_PASS
 POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
 CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
+DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=$DJANGO_SECRET
 EOF
 cd /opt/dispatcharr/frontend
 $STD npm install --legacy-peer-deps