Difference between master.key and production.key and other {environment}.key files in rails

Question

I'm using ActiveRecord encrypted fields in my app and generating credentials using the following command: rails credentials:edit --environment development (same for test and production ).

Now I have 4 files: config/credentials/development.key config/credentials/test.key config/credentials/production.key config/master.key

What's the difference between the master key and all the environment keys?

Answer 1

The master key is used to encrypt and decrypt credentials in all environments. The environment keys are used to encrypt and decrypt credentials in their respective environments.