diff --git a/src/auto_archiver/databases/api_db.py b/src/auto_archiver/databases/api_db.py
index 7688da3..27fab26 100644
--- a/src/auto_archiver/databases/api_db.py
+++ b/src/auto_archiver/databases/api_db.py
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ class AAApiDb(Database):
         self.allow_rearchive = bool(self.allow_rearchive)
         self.store_results = bool(self.store_results)
         self.assert_valid_string("api_endpoint")
-        self.assert_valid_string("api_secret")
 
     @staticmethod
     def configs() -> dict:
diff --git a/src/auto_archiver/version.py b/src/auto_archiver/version.py
index 6ec7154..335414d 100644
--- a/src/auto_archiver/version.py
+++ b/src/auto_archiver/version.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ _MAJOR = "0"
 _MINOR = "7"
 # On main and in a nightly release the patch should be one ahead of the last
 # released build.
-_PATCH = "8"
+_PATCH = "9"
 # This is mainly for nightly builds which have the suffix ".dev$DATE". See
 # https://semver.org/#is-v123-a-semantic-version for the semantics.
 _SUFFIX = ""