diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4fc2d39..f4b384f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,3 +12,6 @@ download_uk_mod_ufo.sh
 # Protect uploaded PDFs from git clean
 unredacted/docs/
 crimescene/docs/
+
+# SECRETS - NEVER commit this file
+api/data/apikeys.json
diff --git a/api/data/apikeys.example.json b/api/data/apikeys.example.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3714e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/data/apikeys.example.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+  "weather": { "api_key": "" },
+  "spotify": { "client_id": "", "client_secret": "", "refresh_token": "" },
+  "smtp": { "host": "", "port": "587", "user": "", "pass": "" },
+  "discord": { "webhook": "" },
+  "github": { "token": "" },
+  "custom1": { "name": "", "key": "" },
+  "venice": { "api_key": "", "model": "gemma-4-uncensored" }
+}