diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 4577454e4..b4c1ee09d 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ cp cli-config.yaml.example ~/.hermes/config.yaml
 touch ~/.hermes/.env
 
 # Add at minimum an LLM provider key:
-echo 'OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key' >> ~/.hermes/.env
+echo "OPENROUTER_API_KEY=***" >> ~/.hermes/.env
 ```
 
 ### Run