High-signal regex patterns for detecting secrets in codebases.
High-Signal Regex Patterns
| Secret Type | Pattern | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Access Key | AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16} | Always 20 chars, starts AKIA |
| AWS Secret | (?i)aws(.{0,20})?['"][0-9a-zA-Z/+]{40}['"] | 40 chars base64-ish |
| Google API Key | AIza[0-9A-Za-z\-_]{35} | 39 chars total |
| Google OAuth | [0-9]+-[0-9A-Za-z_]{32}\.apps\.googleusercontent\.com | Client ID |
| Google Service Account | "type":\s*"service_account" | In JSON files |
| GitHub Token | gh[pousr]_[A-Za-z0-9_]{36,} | ghp_/gho_/ghu_/ghs_/ghr_ |
| GitHub PAT (fine-grained) | github_pat_[A-Za-z0-9_]{22,} | Newer format |
| GitLab Token | glpat-[A-Za-z0-9\-]{20,} | Personal access token |
| Stripe Secret | `sk_(live | test)_[0-9a-zA-Z]{24,}` |
| Stripe Restricted | `rk_(live | test)_[0-9a-zA-Z]{24,}` |
| Stripe Publishable | `pk_(live | test)_[0-9a-zA-Z]{24,}` |
| Slack Bot Token | xoxb-[A-Za-z0-9-]+ | Bot token |
| Slack User Token | xoxp-[A-Za-z0-9-]+ | User token |
| Slack Workflow Token | xwfp-[A-Za-z0-9-]+ | Workflow token |
| Slack App Token | xapp-[A-Za-z0-9-]+ | App-level token |
| Slack Webhook | https://hooks\.slack\.com/services/T[A-Z0-9]+/B[A-Z0-9]+/[a-zA-Z0-9]+ | |
| Discord Token | [MN][A-Za-z\d]{23,}\.[\w-]{6}\.[\w-]{27} | Bot token |
| Discord Webhook | https://discord\.com/api/webhooks/[0-9]+/[A-Za-z0-9_-]+ | |
| OpenAI Key | sk-[A-Za-z0-9]{48} | API key |
| Anthropic Key | sk-ant-[A-Za-z0-9\-]{32,} | API key |
| Twilio | SK[a-z0-9]{32} | API key SID |
| SendGrid | SG\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{22}\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{43} | API key |
| Mailgun | key-[0-9a-zA-Z]{32} | API key |
| Mailchimp | [a-f0-9]{32}-us[0-9]{1,2} | API key |
| Firebase | (?i)firebase[a-z0-9\-]+\.firebaseio\.com | Database URL |
| Supabase | eyJ[A-Za-z0-9_-]*\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]*\.[A-Za-z0-9_-]* | JWT (check context) |
| Heroku | [hH]eroku.*[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[0-9A-F]{12} | API key |
| NPM Token | npm_[A-Za-z0-9]{36} | Publish token |
| PyPI Token | pypi-[A-Za-z0-9_-]{50,} | Upload token |
| Private Key | `-----BEGIN (RSA | EC |
| Database URL | `(?i)(postgres | mysql |
| Password in URL | [a-zA-Z]{3,15}://[^/\\:@]+:[^/\\:@]+@.{1,100} | Basic auth |
| JWT Secret | `(?i)(jwt[_-]?secret | token[_-]?secret)['"]?\s*[:=]\s*['"][^'"]+['"]` |
| Generic Secret | `(?i)(password | passwd |
CLI Scanning Commands
# Quick grep scan (fast, high signal)
rg -n "(AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}|sk_(live|test)_|rk_(live|test)_|pk_(live|test)_|xox[baprs]-|xapp-|xwfp-|gh[pousr]_|github_pat_)" .
rg -n "BEGIN (RSA|EC|OPENSSH|DSA|PGP) PRIVATE KEY" .
rg -n "(?i)(api[_-]?key|secret|token|password)\s*[:=]\s*['\"][^'\"]{8,}" .
# Dedicated scanners (thorough)
gitleaks detect --source . --redact --no-git
semgrep scan --config p/secrets --error
trufflehog filesystem . --only-verified<priority_files>
Files to Prioritize
| File Pattern | Risk Level | Why |
|---|---|---|
.env* | CRITICAL | Often contains all secrets |
*config*.js/ts/json | HIGH | App configuration |
*secret*, *credential* | HIGH | Named suspiciously |
docker-compose*.yml | HIGH | DB passwords, service creds |
.github/workflows/*.yml | HIGH | CI/CD secrets |
*test*, *spec*, *fixture* | MEDIUM | Test data with real creds |
*.pem, *.key, *.p12 | CRITICAL | Private keys |
</priority_files>
Redaction Format
When reporting secrets, MUST always redact:
Original: AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE
Redacted: AKIA****...****MPLE
Original: sk_test_XXXXYYYYZZZZ11112222
Redacted: sk_****...****2222Show first 4 + last 4 characters only. MUST instruct immediate rotation.