Secret filter

A pack is text you are about to paste into a third-party service. The secret filter keeps the most common credential files out of it. It is on by default and turns off only with --allow-secrets.

By file name

A file is dropped when its name (not the full path) matches one of these globs, ignoring case:

Glob	Catches
.env	environment files
.env.*	.env.local, .env.production
*.key	private keys
*.pem	keys and certificates in PEM form
*.p12	PKCS#12 bundles
id_*	SSH keys: id_rsa, id_ed25519
*secret*	client_secret.json, secrets.yaml
*.kdbx	KeePass databases

Matching the name only means that src/secrets.ts is dropped, while a secrets/README.md is not. Some names are caught by mistake, such as id_utils.ts; the report shows every such file, so a false positive is easy to spot.

By content

A file is also dropped when it contains PEM armor for a private key (any BEGIN … PRIVATE KEY line, including RSA, EC and OpenSSH keys) or a certificate. Only full armor lines with the five dashes count, so text that merely mentions a private key is not affected.

In the report

Every dropped file gets its own line with the rule that matched:

Skipped: 3
  secret  .env               name matches .env
  secret  certs/server.pem   name matches *.pem
  secret  deploy/config.txt  contains a PEM private key

The report never includes file contents.

Files ignored by .gitignore are reported as ignored before the secret filter sees them. A .env listed in .gitignore shows up as ignored, and it is still not packed.

Limits

The filter looks at file names and PEM armor. It does not scan file contents for API keys, tokens, passwords or connection strings, so a key hard-coded in config.ts goes into the pack. Review the pack before sending it anywhere you do not control. If you need a content scanner, run a dedicated tool such as gitleaks or Secretlint on the project, or on the pack file.

Turning it off

npx lmpack pack --allow-secrets

The flag exists only on the command line; lmpack.json cannot turn the filter off, so a committed config never disables it for everyone.