diff --git a/management/auth.py b/management/auth.py
index fd143c76..de2b61b5 100644
--- a/management/auth.py
+++ b/management/auth.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-import base64, os, os.path, hmac, json
+import base64, os, os.path, hmac, json, secrets
 
-from flask import make_response
 
 import utils
 from mailconfig import get_mail_password, get_mail_user_privileges
@@ -9,7 +8,7 @@ from mfa import get_hash_mfa_state, validate_auth_mfa
 DEFAULT_KEY_PATH   = '/var/lib/mailinabox/api.key'
 DEFAULT_AUTH_REALM = 'Mail-in-a-Box Management Server'
 
-class KeyAuthService:
+class AuthService:
 	"""Generate an API key for authenticating clients
 
 	Clients must read the key from the key file and send the key with all HTTP
@@ -18,16 +17,12 @@ class KeyAuthService:
 	"""
 	def __init__(self):
 		self.auth_realm = DEFAULT_AUTH_REALM
-		self.key = self._generate_key()
 		self.key_path = DEFAULT_KEY_PATH
+		self.init_system_api_key()
 
-	def write_key(self):
-		"""Write key to file so authorized clients can get the key
+	def init_system_api_key(self):
+		"""Write an API key to a local file so local processes can use the API"""
 
-		The key file is created with mode 0640 so that additional users can be
-		authorized to access the API by granting group/ACL read permissions on
-		the key file.
-		"""
 		def create_file_with_mode(path, mode):
 			# Based on answer by A-B-B: http://stackoverflow.com/a/15015748
 			old_umask = os.umask(0)
@@ -36,6 +31,8 @@ class KeyAuthService:
 			finally:
 				os.umask(old_umask)
 
+		self.key = secrets.token_hex(24)
+
 		os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(self.key_path), exist_ok=True)
 
 		with create_file_with_mode(self.key_path, 0o640) as key_file:
@@ -72,8 +69,9 @@ class KeyAuthService:
 
 		if username in (None, ""):
 			raise ValueError("Authorization header invalid.")
-		elif username == self.key:
-			# The user passed the master API key which grants administrative privs.
+
+		if username == self.key:
+			# The user passed the system API key which grants administrative privs.
 			return (None, ["admin"])
 		else:
 			# The user is trying to log in with a username and either a password
@@ -136,8 +134,8 @@ class KeyAuthService:
 		# email address, current hashed password, and current MFA state, so that the
 		# key becomes invalid if any of that information changes.
 		#
-		# Use an HMAC to generate the API key using our master API key as a key,
-		# which also means that the API key becomes invalid when our master API key
+		# Use an HMAC to generate the API key using our system API key as a key,
+		# which also means that the API key becomes invalid when our system API key
 		# changes --- i.e. when this process is restarted.
 		#
 		# Raises ValueError via get_mail_password if the user doesn't exist.
@@ -153,6 +151,3 @@ class KeyAuthService:
 		hash_key = self.key.encode('ascii')
 		return hmac.new(hash_key, msg, digestmod="sha256").hexdigest()
 
-	def _generate_key(self):
-		raw_key = os.urandom(32)
-		return base64.b64encode(raw_key).decode('ascii')
diff --git a/management/daemon.py b/management/daemon.py
index 8490ee44..bb723ea6 100755
--- a/management/daemon.py
+++ b/management/daemon.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/local/lib/mailinabox/env/bin/python3
 #
+# The API can be accessed on the command line, e.g. use `curl` like so:
+#    curl --user $(</var/lib/mailinabox/api.key): http://localhost:10222/mail/users
+#
 # During development, you can start the Mail-in-a-Box control panel
 # by running this script, e.g.:
 #
@@ -22,7 +25,7 @@ from mfa import get_public_mfa_state, provision_totp, validate_totp_secret, enab
 
 env = utils.load_environment()
 
-auth_service = auth.KeyAuthService()
+auth_service = auth.AuthService()
 
 # We may deploy via a symbolic link, which confuses flask's template finding.
 me = __file__
@@ -724,30 +727,10 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 		# Turn on Flask debugging.
 		app.debug = True
 
-		# Use a stable-ish master API key so that login sessions don't restart on each run.
-		# Use /etc/machine-id to seed the key with a stable secret, but add something
-		# and hash it to prevent possibly exposing the machine id, using the time so that
-		# the key is not valid indefinitely.
-		import hashlib
-		with open("/etc/machine-id") as f:
-			api_key = f.read()
-		api_key += "|" + str(int(time.time() / (60*60*2)))
-		hasher = hashlib.sha1()
-		hasher.update(api_key.encode("ascii"))
-		auth_service.key = hasher.hexdigest()
-
-	if "APIKEY" in os.environ: auth_service.key = os.environ["APIKEY"]
-
 	if not app.debug:
 		app.logger.addHandler(utils.create_syslog_handler())
 
-	# For testing on the command line, you can use `curl` like so:
-	#    curl --user $(</var/lib/mailinabox/api.key): http://localhost:10222/mail/users
-	auth_service.write_key()
-
-	# For testing in the browser, you can copy the API key that's output to the
-	# debug console and enter that as the username
-	app.logger.info('API key: ' + auth_service.key)
+	#app.logger.info('API key: ' + auth_service.key)
 
 	# Start the application server. Listens on 127.0.0.1 (IPv4 only).
 	app.run(port=10222)