secret-guard

Stop API keys from landing in AI agent rules, MCP configs, and prompts.

npx ai-secret-guard@beta
# or
npx ai-secret-guard@beta scan --cwd . --strict

Part of the AI dev hygiene suite (sibling of instruct-sync, ai-setup-doctor, mcp-sync).

Why

Classic scanners (gitleaks, GitHub secret scanning) are great at .env and source — they miss the new leak surface:

| Path | Risk | |------|------| | CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md | Keys pasted into agent instructions | | .cursor/rules/** | Team rules with live tokens | | .cursor/mcp.json / Claude Desktop MCP | Hardcoded env blocks | | .env.example | “Examples” that are real keys |

secret-guard scans those paths first. Zero runtime dependencies. CI / pre-commit friendly.

Install

npm i -g ai-secret-guard@beta
# or always via npx
npx ai-secret-guard@beta

Requires Node.js 20+.

Usage

secret-guard                     # scan current project
secret-guard --json              # machine-readable
secret-guard --sarif > out.sarif # GitHub Code Scanning
secret-guard --strict            # fail on warnings too
secret-guard --user              # also scan ~/.cursor, Claude Desktop MCP, …
secret-guard --cwd ./apps/web

Exit codes: 0 clean · 1 findings · 2 bad args

Pre-commit (simple)

# .git/hooks/pre-commit (or husky / lefthook)
npx ai-secret-guard@beta --strict

GitHub Actions

- uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with: { node-version: "20" }
- run: npx ai-secret-guard@beta --strict

What it checks

• Agent / rule files (Cursor, Claude, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini, Aider, …)
• MCP config JSON (project + optional user-home)
• Hardcoded MCP env values (not ${VAR} refs)
• .env.example / sample files (warn)
• Git-tracked .env / key files when in a work tree (error)

Secrets in output are redacted. Example keys and placeholders are allowlisted.

Related suite tools

| Tool | Role | |------|------| | ai-setup-doctor | Full setup diagnostics (includes a secrets category) | | mcp-sync | Sync MCP configs across clients | | instruct-sync | Sync agent rules across tools | | secret-guard | Focused secrets guard for AI paths + CI |

Patterns started from setup-doctor’s secret module, then specialized for pre-commit/SARIF.

Develop

cd secret-guard
npm install
npm test
node dist/cli.js scan --cwd fixtures/leaky-rules

License

MIT