diff --git a/boringtun/src/device/api.rs b/boringtun/src/device/api.rs
index 0486de68..22cf63f7 100644
--- a/boringtun/src/device/api.rs
+++ b/boringtun/src/device/api.rs
@@ -157,6 +157,8 @@ impl Device {
 fn api_get(writer: &mut BufWriter<&UnixStream>, d: &Device) -> i32 {
     // get command requires an empty line, but there is no reason to be religious about it
     if let Some(ref k) = d.key_pair {
+        writeln!(writer, "private_key={}", encode_hex(k.0.as_bytes()));
+        // Is this even needed? This seems like a custom extension in boringtun
         writeln!(writer, "own_public_key={}", encode_hex(k.1.as_bytes()));
     }