Reject invalid SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY instead of 500ing.

Placeholder Fernet values like replace-with-fernet-key now raise a clear SocialCryptoError in the portal, and prod env examples no longer ship a fake key.

.env.prod.example

@@ -77,7 +77,10 @@ PCM_RETURN_ADDRESS='{"firstName":"Monica","lastName":"Dhillon","address":"replac
 # LinkedIn Auth redirect (prod): https://YOUR_DOMAIN/portal/social/accounts/linkedin/callback/
 META_APP_ID=
 META_APP_SECRET=
-SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=replace-with-fernet-key
+# Must be a real Fernet key (44 chars). Generate:
+#   python -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())"
+# Do NOT use a placeholder — invalid keys break LinkedIn/Meta token save.
+SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=
 
 # Ollama for social drafting (reachable from app hosts)
 OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://10.0.0.128:11434
@@ -116,7 +119,7 @@ GUNICORN_BIND=0.0.0.0:8000
 # EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD=replace-me
 # SMTP2GO_SMS_API_KEY=replace-me
 # LOB_API_KEY=replace-me
-# SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=replace-with-fernet-key
+# SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=  # real Fernet.generate_key() output, not a placeholder
 # OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://10.0.0.128:11434
 # NOMINATIM_BASE_URL=http://10.0.0.128:8089
 # NOMINATIM_COUNTRY_CODES=us

site/social/crypto.py

@@ -1,17 +1,55 @@
-"""Token encryption helpers for SocialAccount."""
+"""Token encryption helpers for SocialAccount / SocialAppCredentials."""
 
 from cryptography.fernet import Fernet, InvalidToken
 from django.conf import settings
 
+# Copied from .env.prod.example / deploy templates — not valid Fernet material.
+_PLACEHOLDER_KEYS = frozenset(
+    {
+        "replace-with-fernet-key",
+        "changeme",
+        "change-me",
+        "todo",
+    }
+)
+
+
+class SocialCryptoError(ValueError):
+    """Raised when SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY is missing or not a Fernet key."""
+
+
+def _normalize_key(raw: str | bytes | None) -> bytes | None:
+    if raw is None:
+        return None
+    if isinstance(raw, bytes):
+        text = raw.decode("utf-8", errors="ignore").strip()
+    else:
+        text = str(raw).strip()
+    if not text or text.lower() in _PLACEHOLDER_KEYS:
+        return None
+    return text.encode()
+
 
 def _fernet() -> Fernet:
-    key = settings.SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY
+    key = _normalize_key(settings.SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY)
-    if not key:
+    if key is None:
-        # Dev-only fallback — generate is not stable across restarts; set the env var.
+        if settings.DEBUG:
-        key = Fernet.generate_key().decode()
+            # Dev-only unstable fallback — set SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY for real use.
-    if isinstance(key, str):
+            return Fernet(Fernet.generate_key())
-        key = key.encode()
+        raise SocialCryptoError(
-    return Fernet(key)
+            "SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY is not set. Generate one with: "
+            'python -c "from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; '
+            'print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())" '
+            "and add it to the beta/prod app env, then redeploy/restart."
+        )
+    try:
+        return Fernet(key)
+    except (ValueError, TypeError) as exc:
+        raise SocialCryptoError(
+            "SOCIAL_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY is invalid (must be 32 url-safe "
+            "base64-encoded bytes from Fernet.generate_key()). "
+            "Replace the placeholder in the beta/prod env and restart."
+        ) from exc
 
 
 def encrypt_tokens(plaintext: str) -> str:
@@ -25,3 +63,5 @@ def decrypt_tokens(ciphertext: str) -> str:
         return _fernet().decrypt(ciphertext.encode()).decode()
     except InvalidToken as exc:
         raise ValueError("Unable to decrypt social tokens") from exc
+    except SocialCryptoError:
+        raise

site/social/views.py

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.views.decorators.http import require_GET, require_http_methods, require_POST
 
 from messaging.services import parse_scheduled_for
-from social.crypto import encrypt_tokens
+from social.crypto import SocialCryptoError, encrypt_tokens
 from social.models import (
     Platform,
     SocialAccount,
@@ -143,7 +143,11 @@ def account_list(request):
             )
             app.client_id = client_id
             if client_secret:
-                app.encrypted_client_secret = encrypt_tokens(client_secret)
+                try:
+                    app.encrypted_client_secret = encrypt_tokens(client_secret)
+                except SocialCryptoError as exc:
+                    messages.error(request, str(exc))
+                    return redirect(f"{request.path}?connect=linkedin")
             elif not app.encrypted_client_secret:
                 messages.error(
                     request,
@@ -178,12 +182,18 @@ def account_list(request):
         elif platform == Platform.LINKEDIN:
             token_blob["author_urn"] = external_id
 
+        try:
+            encrypted = encrypt_tokens(json.dumps(token_blob))
+        except SocialCryptoError as exc:
+            messages.error(request, str(exc))
+            return redirect(f"{request.path}?connect={platform}")
+
         account, created = SocialAccount.objects.update_or_create(
             platform=platform,
             external_id=external_id,
             defaults={
                 "label": label,
-                "encrypted_tokens": encrypt_tokens(json.dumps(token_blob)),
+                "encrypted_tokens": encrypted,
                 "is_active": True,
                 "owner": request.user,
             },
@@ -273,7 +283,7 @@ def linkedin_oauth_callback(request):
                 "owner": request.user,
             },
         )
-    except LinkedInOAuthError as exc:
+    except (LinkedInOAuthError, SocialCryptoError) as exc:
         messages.error(request, str(exc))
         return redirect("social:account_list")
     except Exception: