diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f90b8e6..120b7ee 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -51,6 +51,25 @@ The middleware accepts the following configuration options:
 * `address`: the address of the lnd gRPC service( default: localhost:10009)
 * `credentials_path`: path to the tls.cert (default: ~/.lnd/tls.cert)
 * `macaroon_path`: path to the macaroon path (default: ~/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/testnet/admin.macaroon)
+* `credentials`: instead of configuring a `credentials_path` you can pass the content of the tls.cert directly
+* `macaroon`: instead of configuring a `macaroon_path` you can pass the hex content of the macaroon directly
+
+### How to pass credentials or macaroon data from a variable like a environment varibale?
+
+The tls.cert and the macaroon config can be loaded from a variable:
+
+```ruby
+ENV['LND_CREDENTIALS'] = "the content of your tls.cert file"
+ENV['LND_MACAROON'] = "the hex encoded content of your macaroon file"
+# you can get the macaroon content like this: 
+# ::File.read(::File.expand_path("/path/to/admin.macaroon")).each_byte.map { |b| b.to_s(16).rjust(2,'0') }.join 
+
+Example = Rack::Builder.new {
+  use Rack::Lightning, { macaroon: ENV['LND_MACAROON'], credentials: ENV['LND_CREDENTIALS'] } 
+  run Proc.new { |env| ['200', {'Content-Type' => 'text/html'}, ['get rack\'d']] }
+}.to_app
+```
+
 
 ## What is the Lightning Network?
 
diff --git a/lib/rack/lightning.rb b/lib/rack/lightning.rb
index 63a4893..61f4755 100644
--- a/lib/rack/lightning.rb
+++ b/lib/rack/lightning.rb
@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ module Rack
       @options[:address] ||= 'localhost:10009'
       @options[:timeout] ||= 5
       @options[:credentials] ||= ::File.read(::File.expand_path(@options[:credentials_path] || "~/.lnd/tls.cert"))
-      macaroon_binary ||= ::File.read(::File.expand_path(@options[:macaroon_path] || "~/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/testnet/admin.macaroon"))
-      @options[:macaroon] = macaroon_binary.each_byte.map { |b| b.to_s(16).rjust(2,'0') }.join
+      @options[:macaroon] ||= begin
+        macaroon_binary = ::File.read(::File.expand_path(@options[:macaroon_path] || "~/.lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/testnet/admin.macaroon"))
+        macaroon_binary.each_byte.map { |b| b.to_s(16).rjust(2,'0') }.join
+      end
       @lnd_client = Lnrpc::Lightning::Stub.new(@options[:address], GRPC::Core::ChannelCredentials.new(@options[:credentials]))
     end