How to prevent committing secrets to a GitHub repository

[F20LAB206E8]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a project with multiple collaborators, and sometimes we accidentally commit API keys or other secrets to the repository.

I’d like to set up a way to prevent these commits before they happen.

I’ve heard about tools like GitHub secret scanning and pre-commit hooks, but I’m not sure what the best approach is.

What’s the simplest way to stop secrets from being pushed to the repo, ideally using GitHub’s built-in tools?

Thanks!

[angelariasus]

You can use GitHub’s built-in secret scanning to help with this.

1. Go to your repository’s Settings > Code security and analysis.
2. Enable Secret scanning and Push protection.
3. GitHub will then block commits that contain known secret patterns (like API keys or tokens).

For extra protection, you can also use a local pre-commit hook with a tool like pre-commit
or git-secrets. This stops secrets before they leave your machine.

[F20LAB206E8]

Thanks a lot for your help!
I enabled Secret scanning and Push protection, and now it’s working perfectly.
I’ll also look into adding a local pre-commit hook for extra security.

Really appreciate the clear explanation!