diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index ff8870a01..b944d6ce0 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -197,6 +197,8 @@ configuration directory. On Linux, this would be ``$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sops/age/key
 On macOS, this would be ``$HOME/Library/Application Support/sops/age/keys.txt``. On
 Windows, this would be ``%AppData%\sops\age\keys.txt``. You can specify the location
 of this file manually by setting the environment variable **SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE**.
+Alternatively you can provide the the key(s) directly by setting the **SOPS_AGE_KEY**
+environment variable.
 
 The contents of this key file should be a list of age X25519 identities, one
 per line. Lines beginning with ``#`` are considered comments and ignored. Each
diff --git a/age/keysource.go b/age/keysource.go
index 05a85a343..e9e874ddf 100644
--- a/age/keysource.go
+++ b/age/keysource.go
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ func init() {
 	log = logging.NewLogger("AGE")
 }
 
+const SopsAgeKeyEnv = "SOPS_AGE_KEY"
+const SopsAgeKeyFileEnv = "SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE"
+
 // MasterKey is an age key used to encrypt and decrypt sops' data key.
 type MasterKey struct {
 	Identity     string // a Bech32-encoded private key
@@ -93,27 +96,46 @@ func (key *MasterKey) SetEncryptedDataKey(enc []byte) {
 
 // Decrypt decrypts the EncryptedKey field with the age identity and returns the result.
 func (key *MasterKey) Decrypt() ([]byte, error) {
-	ageKeyFilePath, ok := os.LookupEnv("SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE")
+	var ageKeyReader io.Reader
+	var ageKeyReaderName string
+
+	if ageKeyReader == nil {
+		ageKey, ok := os.LookupEnv(SopsAgeKeyEnv)
+		if ok {
+			ageKeyReader = strings.NewReader(ageKey)
+			ageKeyReaderName = "environment variable"
+		}
+	}
 
-	if !ok {
-		userConfigDir, err := os.UserConfigDir()
+	if ageKeyReader == nil {
+		ageKeyFilePath, ok := os.LookupEnv(SopsAgeKeyFileEnv)
+		if ok {
+			ageKeyFile, err := os.Open(ageKeyFilePath)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to open file: %w", err)
+			}
+			defer ageKeyFile.Close()
+			ageKeyReader = ageKeyFile
+			ageKeyReaderName = ageKeyFilePath
+		}
+	}
 
+	if ageKeyReader == nil {
+		userConfigDir, err := os.UserConfigDir()
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("user config directory could not be determined: %w", err)
 		}
-
-		ageKeyFilePath = filepath.Join(userConfigDir, "sops", "age", "keys.txt")
-	}
-
-	ageKeyFile, err := os.Open(ageKeyFilePath)
-
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to open file: %w", err)
+		ageKeyFilePath := filepath.Join(userConfigDir, "sops", "age", "keys.txt")
+		ageKeyFile, err := os.Open(ageKeyFilePath)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to open file: %w", err)
+		}
+		defer ageKeyFile.Close()
+		ageKeyReader = ageKeyFile
+		ageKeyReaderName = ageKeyFilePath
 	}
 
-	defer ageKeyFile.Close()
-
-	identities, err := age.ParseIdentities(ageKeyFile)
+	identities, err := age.ParseIdentities(ageKeyReader)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -124,7 +146,7 @@ func (key *MasterKey) Decrypt() ([]byte, error) {
 	r, err := age.Decrypt(ar, identities...)
 
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no age identity found in %q that could decrypt the data", ageKeyFilePath)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no age identity found in %q that could decrypt the data", ageKeyReaderName)
 	}
 
 	var b bytes.Buffer
diff --git a/age/keysource_test.go b/age/keysource_test.go
index 35891b20f..0b30b355d 100644
--- a/age/keysource_test.go
+++ b/age/keysource_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package age
 
 import (
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path"
 	"runtime"
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ func TestAge(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(err)
 
 	_, filename, _, _ := runtime.Caller(0)
-	err = os.Setenv("SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE", path.Join(path.Dir(filename), "keys.txt"))
+	err = os.Setenv(SopsAgeKeyFileEnv, path.Join(path.Dir(filename), "keys.txt"))
 	assert.NoError(err)
 
 	decryptedKey, err := key.Decrypt()
@@ -70,7 +71,33 @@ DOMAIN=files.127.0.0.1.nip.io`
 	assert.NoError(err)
 
 	_, filename, _, _ := runtime.Caller(0)
-	err = os.Setenv("SOPS_AGE_KEY_FILE", path.Join(path.Dir(filename), "keys.txt"))
+	err = os.Setenv(SopsAgeKeyFileEnv, path.Join(path.Dir(filename), "keys.txt"))
+	defer os.Unsetenv(SopsAgeKeyFileEnv)
+	assert.NoError(err)
+
+	decryptedKey, err := key.Decrypt()
+	assert.NoError(err)
+	assert.Equal(dataKey, decryptedKey)
+}
+
+func TestAgeEnv(t *testing.T) {
+	assert := assert.New(t)
+
+	key, err := MasterKeyFromRecipient("age1yt3tfqlfrwdwx0z0ynwplcr6qxcxfaqycuprpmy89nr83ltx74tqdpszlw")
+
+	assert.NoError(err)
+	assert.Equal("age1yt3tfqlfrwdwx0z0ynwplcr6qxcxfaqycuprpmy89nr83ltx74tqdpszlw", key.ToString())
+
+	dataKey := []byte("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456")
+
+	err = key.Encrypt(dataKey)
+	assert.NoError(err)
+
+	_, filename, _, _ := runtime.Caller(0)
+	keysBytes, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path.Join(path.Dir(filename), "keys.txt"))
+	assert.NoError(err)
+	err = os.Setenv(SopsAgeKeyEnv, string(keysBytes))
+	defer os.Unsetenv(SopsAgeKeyEnv)
 	assert.NoError(err)
 
 	decryptedKey, err := key.Decrypt()