The Problem We All Have

We’ve all been there (or lived in fear of it):

• Accidentally committed an API key
• Pushed a .env file to a public repo
• Had to rotate credentials in a panic

Tools like git-secrets and pre-commit hooks help, but they have limitations:

• Pattern-based detection has false positives/negatives
• Easy to bypass if you’re in a hurry
• Doesn’t catch everything

My Idea

What if we could be smarter about secret detection?

The concept involves:

1. Entropy analysis - Real secrets tend to have high entropy
2. Context awareness - Is this in a file that typically contains secrets?
3. Pattern matching - But smarter, with fewer false positives
4. Integration points - Pre-commit, CI/CD, IDE plugins

Current Status

This is still an idea I’m exploring. The repo contains my experiments and notes.

Existing Tools

Before reinventing the wheel, consider:

• git-secrets
• truffleHog
• detect-secrets
• gitleaks

What’s Different?

The goal is to reduce friction while increasing security. Most developers disable these tools because they’re annoying.

Check It Out

Repo: domi-ninja/secrets-checking-idea

Would love feedback on the approach!