diff --git a/plugin/core/build.gradle b/plugin/core/build.gradle
index c5d616b34ee..ffdd3303531 100644
--- a/plugin/core/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/core/build.gradle
@@ -58,10 +58,16 @@ processResources {
     MavenFilteringHack.filter(it, expansions)
   }
   boolean snapshot = "true".equals(System.getProperty("build.snapshot", "true"))
-  if (snapshot) {
-    from '../keys/dev/public.key'
+  String licenseKey = System.getProperty("license.key")
+  if (licenseKey != null) {
+    println "Using provided license key from ${licenseKey}"
+  } else if (snapshot) {
+    licenseKey = 'snapshot.key'
   } else {
-    from '../keys/prod/public.key'
+    throw new IllegalArgumentException('Property license.key must be set for release build')
+  }
+  from(licenseKey) {
+    rename { String filename -> 'public.key' }
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/plugin/keys/dev/public.key b/plugin/core/snapshot.key
similarity index 100%
rename from plugin/keys/dev/public.key
rename to plugin/core/snapshot.key
diff --git a/plugin/keys/prod/public.key b/plugin/keys/prod/public.key
deleted file mode 100644
index cf62043826c..00000000000
--- a/plugin/keys/prod/public.key
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-���q�n���g��wM}���UiK��0�b�2����!�[�Cצ��4O9 �0'�Q]b�����0���qI��0H7��aTu�l0���5���&��j��vХ�[�]%Q'��/�Q;Q�`�[�1��X^sA��v���l�<��T�������xh�����?1���N3��78�'D["�ֽ�G�Y!:`j1�Y��G�y�@&I����b1ۡr�e�أV!���M��
���{���[�Ms�	�M
E?e�S��T�
-Y��i:�R;�R2H�YkW}�c
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-��f�s
\ No newline at end of file