diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/wgautomesh.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/wgautomesh.nix
index 7549d82eae0b..094281403f73 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/wgautomesh.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/wgautomesh.nix
@@ -35,8 +35,10 @@ in
     gossipSecretFile = mkOption {
       type = types.path;
       description = mdDoc ''
-        File containing the shared secret key to use for gossip encryption.
-        Required if `enableGossipEncryption` is set.
+        File containing the gossip secret, a shared secret key to use for gossip
+        encryption.  Required if `enableGossipEncryption` is set.  This file
+        may contain any arbitrary-length utf8 string.  To generate a new gossip
+        secret, use a command such as `openssl rand -base64 32`.
       '';
     };
     enablePersistence = mkOption {