diff --git a/src/PostgREST/App.hs b/src/PostgREST/App.hs
index bac5a4960..cd72a0d66 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/App.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/App.hs
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ app dbStructure conf reqBody req =
     hasPrefer val = any (\(h,v) -> h == "Prefer" && v == val) hdrs
     accept        = lookupHeader hAccept
     schema        = cs $ configSchema conf
-    jwtSecret     = (cs $ configJwtSecret conf) :: Text
+    jwtSecret     = configJwtSecret conf
     range         = rangeRequested hdrs
     allOrigins    = ("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*") :: Header
     contentType   = fromMaybe "application/json" $ contentTypeForAccept accept
diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs b/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs
index 22d7de82a..f46da3c71 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ claimsToSQL = map setVar . toList
   returns a map of JWT claims
   In case there is any problem decoding the JWT it returns Nothing.
 -}
-jwtClaims :: Text -> Text -> NominalDiffTime -> Maybe JWT.ClaimsMap
+jwtClaims :: JWT.Secret -> Text -> NominalDiffTime -> Maybe JWT.ClaimsMap
 jwtClaims secret input time =
   case join $ claim JWT.exp of
     Just expires ->
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ jwtClaims secret input time =
         else Nothing
     _ -> customClaims
   where
-    decoded = JWT.decodeAndVerifySignature (JWT.secret secret) input
+    decoded = JWT.decodeAndVerifySignature secret input
     claim :: (JWT.JWTClaimsSet -> a) -> Maybe a
     claim prop = prop . JWT.claims <$> decoded
     customClaims = claim JWT.unregisteredClaims
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ setRole role = "set local role " <> cs (pgFmtLit role) <> ";"
   Receives the JWT secret (from config) and a JWT and a JSON value
   and returns a signed JWT.
 -}
-tokenJWT :: Text -> Value -> Text
-tokenJWT secret (Array a) = JWT.encodeSigned JWT.HS256 (JWT.secret secret)
+tokenJWT :: JWT.Secret -> Value -> Text
+tokenJWT secret (Array a) = JWT.encodeSigned JWT.HS256 secret
                                JWT.def { JWT.unregisteredClaims = fromHashMap o }
                           where
                             Object o = if V.null a then emptyObject else V.head a
diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Config.hs b/src/PostgREST/Config.hs
index 17a94ff07..e7a9cc110 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Config.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Config.hs
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import           Network.Wai
 import           Network.Wai.Middleware.Cors (CorsResourcePolicy (..))
 import           Options.Applicative
 import           Paths_postgrest             (version)
+import           Web.JWT                     (Secret, secret)
 import           Prelude
 
 -- | Data type to store all command line options
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ data AppConfig = AppConfig {
   , configPort      :: Int
   , configAnonRole  :: String
   , configSchema    :: String
-  , configJwtSecret :: String
+  , configJwtSecret :: Secret
   , configPool      :: Int
   }
 
@@ -49,7 +50,8 @@ argParser = AppConfig
   <*> option auto  (long "port"       <> short 'p' <> help "port number on which to run HTTP server" <> metavar "PORT" <> value 3000 <> showDefault)
   <*> strOption    (long "anonymous"  <> short 'a' <> help "postgres role to use for non-authenticated requests" <> metavar "ROLE")
   <*> strOption    (long "schema"     <> short 's' <> help "schema to use for API routes" <> metavar "NAME" <> value "1" <> showDefault)
-  <*> strOption    (long "jwt-secret" <> short 'j' <> help "secret used to encrypt and decrypt JWT tokens" <> metavar "SECRET" <> value "secret" <> showDefault)
+  <*> (secret . cs <$>
+      strOption    (long "jwt-secret" <> short 'j' <> help "secret used to encrypt and decrypt JWT tokens" <> metavar "SECRET" <> value "secret" <> showDefault))
   <*> option auto  (long "pool"       <> short 'o' <> help "max connections in database pool" <> metavar "COUNT" <> value 10 <> showDefault)
 
 defaultCorsPolicy :: CorsResourcePolicy
diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Main.hs b/src/PostgREST/Main.hs
index 02640cdd5..fed0c41df 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Main.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Main.hs
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import           Network.Wai.Middleware.RequestLogger (logStdout)
 import           System.IO                            (BufferMode (..),
                                                        hSetBuffering, stderr,
                                                        stdin, stdout)
+import           Web.JWT                              (secret)
 
 isServerVersionSupported :: H.Session P.Postgres IO Bool
 isServerVersionSupported = do
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@ main = do
   conf <- readOptions
   let port = configPort conf
 
-  unless ("secret" /= configJwtSecret conf) $
+  unless (secret "secret" /= configJwtSecret conf) $
     putStrLn "WARNING, running in insecure mode, JWT secret is the default value"
   Prelude.putStrLn $ "Listening on port " ++
     (show $ configPort conf :: String)
diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs b/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs
index 6a60f20d0..a8e800768 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ runWithClaims conf app req = do
   where
     stmt c = B.Stmt c V.empty True
     hdrs = requestHeaders req
-    jwtSecret = (cs $ configJwtSecret conf) :: Text
+    jwtSecret = configJwtSecret conf
     auth = fromMaybe "" $ lookup hAuthorization hdrs
     anon = cs $ configAnonRole conf
     setAnon = setRole anon