gitleaks/gitleaks

Project overview

Gitleaks is a tool that scans git repositories, files, and standard input to find secrets such as passwords, API keys, and tokens. It can be deployed locally via Docker, binary, or source, and integrated into pre-commit hooks or GitHub Actions.

Project type

AI Coding

Use cases

Coding & Development

Deployment

Refer to project documentation

License

MIT

Best for

• Developers who need a locally runnable command-line tool to scan text inputs, files, or git repositories for secrets.
• Teams implementing developer security checks via pre-commit hooks or GitHub Actions.

Key capabilities

• Scans git repositories, files, and standard input to find secrets including passwords, API keys, and tokens.
• Can be implemented directly in a repository as a pre-commit hook to scan changes before they are committed.

Limitations and risks

• The project is feature complete and is not merging new features. Future releases are described as security patches only.
• The maintainer states that focus is shifting to Betterleaks, which may reduce future feature development for Gitleaks.

Getting started

• Install using Homebrew, Docker, Go, or a binary release. Run the command-line tool against a supported input.

Evidence and sources

• README: Gitleaks is a tool for **detecting** secrets like passwords, API keys, and tokens in git repos, files, and whatever else you wanna throw at it via `stdin`.
• README: Gitleaks is feature complete. I'm not merging new features into Gitleaks. Future releases will be security patches only. I'm shifting my focus to [Betterleaks](https://github.com/…
• README: Gitleaks can be installed using Homebrew, Docker, or Go. Gitleaks is also available in binary form for many popular platforms and OS types on the [releases page](https://github.co…
• README: Finding: "export BUNDLE_ENTERPRISE__CONTRIBSYS__COM=cafebabe:deadbeef", Secret: cafebabe:deadbeef RuleID: sidekiq-secret Entropy: 2.609850 File: cmd/generate/config/rules/sidekiq.…
• README: brew install gitleaks

Reviewed at: 2026-07-14T11:31:23Z