git-secrets is a command-line utility that helps developers avoid committing passwords, access keys, and other sensitive credentials to Git repositories.
It works by scanning commits, commit messages, and selected merge histories against configured prohibited patterns, rejecting commits when a match is found. It’s particularly useful for teams working with AWS credentials, but it can also be configured with custom regular expressions and secret providers.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Scans commits, commit messages, and non-fast-forward merge histories for prohibited secret patterns.
- Installs Git hooks to block accidental commits containing credentials.
- Provides built-in support for common AWS access key and secret key patterns.
- Can scan existing repository history before making a project public.
- Supports custom prohibited patterns and allowed patterns to reduce false positives.
- Offers secret provider support for generating patterns dynamically from external commands.
- Runs as a Git extension from the command line.
- Cross-platform support – runs under Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: github.com/awslabs/git-secrets
Support:
Developer: AWS Labs
License: Apache License 2.0
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