diff --git a/.github/assets/profiles/_test/pulp_config.env b/.github/assets/profiles/_test/pulp_config.env
index 02b28e4..116ae9e 100644
--- a/.github/assets/profiles/_test/pulp_config.env
+++ b/.github/assets/profiles/_test/pulp_config.env
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 PULP_API_ROOT=/my/custom/api/
 MY_CUSTOM_ENV_VAR=hello
 PULP_ALLOWED_CONTENT_CHECKSUMS=['sha1', 'sha224', 'sha256', 'sha384', 'sha512']
+PULP_SECRET_KEY="testtest"
 CUSTOM_VAR_WITH_DEFAULT1={CUSTOM_DEFAULT1}
 CUSTOM_VAR_WITH_DEFAULT2={CUSTOM_DEFAULT2}
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 24d3b18..f82ea8b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ DEV_SOURCE_PATH=pulpcore
 API_PORT=4002
 COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=test
 
+# Django SECRET_KEY value, used for session auth - uncomment this and change the value to something else
+PULP_SECRET_KEY="your_secret_value_here"
+
 # If you want to use a different directory for your git checkouts you can set this
 # SRC_DIR=/path/to/my/git/checkouts
 ```
diff --git a/base/Dockerfile b/base/Dockerfile
index 4ec1909..4d110d8 100644
--- a/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/base/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-ARG BASE_IMAGE=ghcr.io/pulp/pulp-ci-centos9:latest
+ARG BASE_IMAGE=ghcr.io/pulp/pulp-ci-centos10:latest
 FROM $BASE_IMAGE
 
 # configure S6 to use env variables
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ ENV S6_KEEP_ENV=1
 COPY dev_requirements.txt /dev_requirements.txt
 
 COPY switch_python /usr/bin/switch_python
-ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.11
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.12
 RUN switch_python "$PYTHON_VERSION"
 
 RUN uv pip install -r dev_requirements.txt
diff --git a/compose.env.example b/compose.env.example
index cf7cf23..3dd10ec 100644
--- a/compose.env.example
+++ b/compose.env.example
@@ -18,3 +18,6 @@ DEV_SOURCE_PATH=
 # API_HOST=localhost
 # API_PORT=5001
 # API_PROTOCOL=http
+
+# Django SECRET_KEY value, used for session auth - uncomment this and change the value to something else
+# PULP_SECRET_KEY="dev_changeme_notasecret"