diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 63520f99e15..59569842b44 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 - Use Ansible 2.3.1.0 so that we can do shallow clones of tags.
 
+- Role: edxapp
+  - `EDXAPP_EDXAPP_SECRET_KEY` no longer has a default value
+
 - git_clone:
   - The working tree is explicitly checked for modified files, to prevent mysterious failures.
 
diff --git a/docker/build/edxapp/ansible_overrides.yml b/docker/build/edxapp/ansible_overrides.yml
index 8876e3eeb90..f8afd81f6a4 100644
--- a/docker/build/edxapp/ansible_overrides.yml
+++ b/docker/build/edxapp/ansible_overrides.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ EDXAPP_SEARCH_HOST: 'edx.devstack.elasticsearch'
 
 EDXAPP_PYTHON_SANDBOX: false
 
+EDXAPP_EDXAPP_SECRET_KEY: 'DUMMY KEY ONLY FOR TO DEVSTACK'
+
 edxapp_debian_pkgs_extra:
   - mongodb-clients
   - mysql-client
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml b/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
index e12eb141ff5..adeb3267a2a 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/edxapp/defaults/main.yml
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ EDXAPP_COMMENTS_SERVICE_URL:  'http://localhost:18080'
 # EDXAPP_COMMENTS_SERVICE_KEY must match FORUM_API_KEY
 EDXAPP_COMMENTS_SERVICE_KEY:  'password'
 
-# EDXAPP_EDXAPP_SECRET_KEY: "DUMMY KEY CHANGE BEFORE GOING TO PRODUCTION"  # Keep it removed to ensure secure defaults
+# EDXAPP_EDXAPP_SECRET_KEY: "DUMMY KEY CHANGE BEFORE GOING TO PRODUCTION"  # Commented out to ensure secure defaults
 
 EDXAPP_FERNET_KEYS:
   - "DUMMY KEY CHANGE BEFORE GOING TO PRODUCTION"
@@ -1650,3 +1650,6 @@ SERVICE_WORKER_USERS:
     is_superuser: false
 
 EDXAPP_ENABLE_DJANGO_ADMIN_RESTRICTION: false
+
+# for docker devstack
+private_requirements_file: "{{ edxapp_app_dir }}/customer_private_requirements.txt"
diff --git a/tests/test_playbooks.sh b/tests/test_playbooks.sh
index 920fd798a0c..8c49dc01523 100755
--- a/tests/test_playbooks.sh
+++ b/tests/test_playbooks.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ ansible-playbook -i localhost, --syntax-check travis-test.yml
 
 output_dir="$PWD/test_output/env-dep"
 mkdir -p $output_dir
-ansible-playbook -i localhost, -c local --tags edxapp_cfg edxapp.yml -e edxapp_user=`whoami` -e edxapp_app_dir=$output_dir -e edxapp_code_dir=$output_dir
+ansible-playbook -i localhost, -c local --tags edxapp_cfg edxapp.yml -e edxapp_user=`whoami` -e edxapp_app_dir=$output_dir -e edxapp_code_dir=$output_dir -e EDXAPP_EDXAPP_SECRET_KEY='DUMMY TRAVIS KEY'
 
 root_dir=$output_dir
 environment_deployments="."