diff --git a/charts/localstack/README.md b/charts/localstack/README.md
index d3ae815..c20d76a 100644
--- a/charts/localstack/README.md
+++ b/charts/localstack/README.md
@@ -54,6 +54,16 @@ extraEnvVars:
     value: "<your api key>"
 ```
 
+If you have the LocalStack API key in a secret, you can also reference it directly with `extraEnvVars`:
+```
+extraEnvVars:
+- name: LOCALSTACK_API_KEY
+  valueFrom:
+    secretKeyRef:
+      name: <name of the secret>
+      key: <name of the key in the secret containing the API key>
+```
+
 And you can use these values when installing the chart in your cluster:
 ```bash
 $ helm repo add localstack-charts https://localstack.github.io/helm-charts
diff --git a/charts/localstack/test-values.yaml b/charts/localstack/test-values.yaml
index e4c73c1..581d29c 100644
--- a/charts/localstack/test-values.yaml
+++ b/charts/localstack/test-values.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,15 @@ mountDind:
 # image:
 #   repository: localstack/localstack-pro
 
+# set the API key from an already existing secret
+# extraEnvVars:
+# - name: LOCALSTACK_API_KEY
+#   valueFrom:
+#     secretKeyRef:
+#       name: <name of the secret containing the API key>
+#       key: <name of the key in the secret containing the API key>
+
+# or set the API key directly
 # extraEnvVars:
 #   - name: LOCALSTACK_API_KEY
 #     value: "<your api key>"