diff --git a/apps/login/next-env-vars.d.ts b/apps/login/next-env-vars.d.ts
index bafdada19..05c4f240b 100644
--- a/apps/login/next-env-vars.d.ts
+++ b/apps/login/next-env-vars.d.ts
@@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ declare namespace NodeJS {
     [key: `${string}_AUDIENCE`]: string; // The system api url
     [key: `${string}_SYSTEM_USER_ID`]: string; // The service account id
     [key: `${string}_SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY`]: string; // The service account private key
+    [key: `${string}_SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE`]: string; // The service account private key file path
 
     AUDIENCE: string; // The fallback system api url
     SYSTEM_USER_ID: string; // The fallback service account id
     SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY: string; // The fallback service account private key
+    SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE: string; // The fallback service account private key file path
 
     /**
      * The Zitadel API url
diff --git a/apps/login/src/lib/api.ts b/apps/login/src/lib/api.ts
index 12aea4e75..7a9757906 100644
--- a/apps/login/src/lib/api.ts
+++ b/apps/login/src/lib/api.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,20 @@
 import { newSystemToken } from "@zitadel/client/node";
-import { readFileSync } from "fs";
+import { readFile } from "fs/promises";
 import { getLoginSystemUserId } from "./deployment";
 
+// The key token is only loaded once from disk per process.
+// If the file was loaded you need to restart the process to switch the key.
+let keyToken: string | undefined;
+
+async function getTokenFromFile(): Promise<string> {
+  if (keyToken) {
+    return keyToken;
+  }
+
+  keyToken = await readFile(process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE, "binary");
+  return keyToken;
+}
+
 /**
  * Creates a signed JWT token using system user credentials from environment
  * variables. The SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY is expected to be base64-encoded and
@@ -12,16 +25,14 @@ import { getLoginSystemUserId } from "./deployment";
  * @throws If the underlying token signing fails.
  */
 export async function systemAPIToken() {
-  const token = {
-    audience: process.env.AUDIENCE,
-    userID: process.env.SYSTEM_USER_ID,
-    token: Buffer.from(process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY, "base64").toString("utf-8"),
-  };
+  const key = process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
+    ? await getTokenFromFile()
+    : Buffer.from(process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY, "base64").toString("utf-8");
 
   return newSystemToken({
-    audience: token.audience,
-    subject: token.userID,
-    key: token.token,
+    audience: process.env.AUDIENCE,
+    subject: process.env.SYSTEM_USER_ID,
+    key,
   });
 }
 
@@ -38,7 +49,7 @@ export async function loginServiceKeyToken() {
   const keyFile = process.env.ZITADEL_LOGIN_SERVICE_KEY_FILE!;
 
   try {
-    const key = readFileSync(keyFile, "utf-8");
+    const key = await readFile(keyFile, "utf-8");
 
     return newSystemToken({
       audience: process.env.AUDIENCE || process.env.ZITADEL_API_URL,
diff --git a/apps/login/src/lib/deployment.ts b/apps/login/src/lib/deployment.ts
index 85c8d4953..add7e4e0e 100644
--- a/apps/login/src/lib/deployment.ts
+++ b/apps/login/src/lib/deployment.ts
@@ -5,13 +5,18 @@
  * - AUDIENCE: The API audience for JWT authentication
  * - SYSTEM_USER_ID: The system user's ID
  * - SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY: The private key for JWT signing
+ * - SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE: The private key file path for JWT signing
  *
  * Both multi-tenant and self-hosted deployments can use system user authentication.
  *
  * @returns true if system user credentials are present, false otherwise
  */
 export function hasSystemUserCredentials(): boolean {
-  return !!process.env.AUDIENCE && !!process.env.SYSTEM_USER_ID && !!process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY;
+  return (
+    !!process.env.AUDIENCE &&
+    !!process.env.SYSTEM_USER_ID &&
+    (!!process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY || !!process.env.SYSTEM_USER_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE)
+  );
 }
 
 /**