diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index cbb94d4..fe2cb12 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -34,6 +34,34 @@ DB_PASSWORD=
 SECRET_KEY=
 
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# FIRST BOOT ONLY — then delete this line
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# FabledCurator encrypts your stored platform credentials with a Fernet key it
+# keeps at /images/secrets/credential_key.b64 — inside the ./images bind mount,
+# so it outlives the container. On a brand-new install that file does not exist
+# yet, and the app REFUSES TO START rather than quietly create one:
+#
+#     MissingCredentialKey: Fernet key file not found at
+#     /images/secrets/credential_key.b64
+#
+# That refusal is deliberate. Auto-creating a key is indistinguishable from the
+# disaster case — a restore that brought the database back but lost
+# ./images/secrets — and there it would mint a key that cannot decrypt anything,
+# leaving an instance that looks healthy while every paywalled download fails.
+# So the choice is yours to make explicitly, once.
+#
+# Set this for your first `up`, watch the container come up, then DELETE THE
+# LINE. Leaving it set disarms the protection permanently, on an instance that
+# by then has credentials worth protecting.
+#
+# BACK UP ./images/secrets/ ALONGSIDE YOUR DATABASE. The key is the only thing
+# that can read your stored credentials; a database restored without it needs
+# every credential re-entered by hand.
+CURATOR_BOOTSTRAP_NEW_KEY=1
+
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Optional — defaults are fine
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 365032d..2770fd4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -90,7 +90,31 @@ If you forget it, the symptom is a long build instead of a quick pull.
 The database schema is created automatically on first start — the web container
 runs its migrations before serving. Nothing to initialise by hand.
 
-A few things are worth knowing about the first few minutes:
+**One thing does need a deliberate act, and the app will not start without it.**
+FabledCurator encrypts your stored platform credentials with a key it keeps at
+`./images/secrets/credential_key.b64`. On a brand-new install that file does not
+exist, and rather than quietly creating one the app stops:
+
+```
+MissingCredentialKey: Fernet key file not found at /images/secrets/credential_key.b64
+```
+
+Set `CURATOR_BOOTSTRAP_NEW_KEY=1` in your `.env` for the first `up`, then delete
+the line once the container is running. `.env.example` ships it with that
+instruction attached.
+
+The refusal is deliberate, and worth understanding rather than working around:
+auto-creating a key is indistinguishable from the disaster case — a restore that
+brought the database back but lost `./images/secrets` — where it would mint a key
+that cannot decrypt anything, leaving an instance that looks healthy while every
+paywalled download fails. Making you say so once, on an empty install, is the
+price of that not happening silently later.
+
+**Which means: back up `./images/secrets/` alongside your database.** It is the
+only thing that can read your stored credentials. A database restored without it
+needs every credential entered again by hand.
+
+A few other things are worth knowing about the first few minutes:
 
 - **The ML worker downloads its model weights on first boot**, several GB from
   HuggingFace into `./models`. Until that finishes, tagging is queued rather
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index fd68189..0bca4f2 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -133,6 +133,20 @@ services:
       CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND: redis://redis:6379/0
       SECRET_KEY: ${SECRET_KEY:-dev_secret_key_not_for_production_change_me}
       LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-INFO}
+      # First boot only. FabledCurator refuses to start until the credential
+      # encryption key at /images/secrets/credential_key.b64 exists, and
+      # refuses to create one unless told to — auto-creating is
+      # indistinguishable from a restore that lost ./images/secrets, where it
+      # would mint a key that decrypts nothing and leave an instance that looks
+      # healthy while every paywalled download fails.
+      #
+      # Passed through EXPLICITLY because a variable in `.env` is only used for
+      # ${...} interpolation; it does not reach the container unless it is
+      # named here. Defaulted to empty so the refusal stands for everyone who
+      # has not opted in — the app tests for exactly "1".
+      #
+      # Set it in .env for one `up`, then remove it. See .env.example.
+      CURATOR_BOOTSTRAP_NEW_KEY: ${CURATOR_BOOTSTRAP_NEW_KEY:-}
     volumes:
       - ./images:/images
       - ./import:/import