diff --git a/docs/book/src/clusterctl/configuration.md b/docs/book/src/clusterctl/configuration.md
index 3ac2017d9601..d27e42131e68 100644
--- a/docs/book/src/clusterctl/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/book/src/clusterctl/configuration.md
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ variables in the `clusterctl` config file:
 AWS_B64ENCODED_CREDENTIALS: XXXXXXXX
 ```
 
+The format of keys should always be `UPPERCASE_WITH_UNDERSCORE` for both OS environment variables and in the  `clusterctl`
+config file.
+
 In case a variable is defined both in the config file and as an OS environment variable,
 the environment variable takes precedence.