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Rank #3 of 6 in Security Scanners

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Gitleaks

Open Source

Gitleaks (Zachary Rice)

29.3k3.4k/yr +215

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Install

brewbrew install gitleaks
dockerdocker run -v ${path_to_host_folder_to_scan}:/path zricethezav/gitleaks:latest git /path

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Showcase

Gitleaks homepage screenshot
homepage · captured Sep 2026 · view live ↗

Try itExperimental

See what an agent can do with Gitleaks before you ever sign up. Pick a story: recorded sessions replay real probe-harness transcripts; sandboxed self-drive sessions are designed and gated (docs/TRY-IT.md).

$gitleaks versionrecorded session — replayed, not live
recorded 2026-09-04 · exit 0 · captured verbatim by our probe harness, secrets redacted

Verified integrations

Connections to other tracked products — hover a chip for the verbatim evidence quote behind it.

By theme — the product's score on each story themeBy theme

Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticnessevidence →

How well agents can access and operate the product

18.7/100

Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depthevidence →

How much of the product can run unattended

23.1/100

Ci precommit — stories about ci precommit in this arenaCi precommitevidence →

Stories about ci precommit in this arena

59.8/100

Container scanning — stories about container scanning in this arenaContainer scanningevidence →

Stories about container scanning in this arena

n/a

Coverage accuracy — stories about coverage accuracy in this arenaCoverage accuracyevidence →

Stories about coverage accuracy in this arena

33.0/100

Dependency sca — stories about dependency sca in this arenaDependency scaevidence →

Stories about dependency sca in this arena

n/a

Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpennessevidence →

Open source, data portability, and self-hosting stories

76.0/100

Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy postureevidence →

Data-handling and privacy stories

0.0/100

Sast rules — stories about sast rules in this arenaSast rulesevidence →

Stories about sast rules in this arena

21.0/100

Secret detection — stories about secret detection in this arenaSecret detectionevidence →

Stories about secret detection in this arena

47.8/100

Supply chain sbom — stories about supply chain sbom in this arenaSupply chain sbomevidence →

Stories about supply chain sbom in this arena

n/a

Triage noise — stories about triage noise in this arenaTriage noiseevidence →

Stories about triage noise in this arena

30.0/100

Story verdicts — every judged story with its evidenceStory verdicts

What’s free: 8 free · 0 paid · 0 enterprise · 12 not stated in evidence

?

Sorted by importance (agentic first) (high → low) · 55/55 stories · click a row’s chevron for the rationale and evidence

Drive the product through a documented public API G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness3none0/10

Connect an agent via an official MCP server G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness3n/auntestednone yet

Delegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product G

Agentic features

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness3n/auntestednone yet

Plug MCP servers into this product so it can use their tools G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness3n/auntestednone yet

Run the product headlessly / in CI for automation G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2fullfree8/10C

Use an official CLI G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2fullfree8/10T

Set up automations that run autonomously in the background G

Agentic features

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2partial6/10C

Download a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent) G

Api quality

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2none0/10

Explore an interactive API reference with runnable examples G

Api quality

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2none±0/10

Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product G

Agentic features

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2none0/10

Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2none0/10

Rely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy G

Api quality

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2none±0/10

Subscribe to events via webhooks G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2none0/10

Build against official SDKs G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2n/auntestednone yet

Issue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agent G

Agent access

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2n/auntestednone yet

Operate the product with natural-language commands G

Agentic features

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness2n/auntestednone yet

Test against a sandbox environment without touching production data G

Api quality

ai-native userAgenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness1n/auntestednone yet

Scan a repository and its full git history for hardcoded secrets and credentials C

Secret scanning

developerSecret detection — stories about secret detection in this arenaSecret detection3fullfree9/10C

Baseline or ignore existing and false-positive findings so only new issues alert C

Fp management

security-engineerTriage noise — stories about triage noise in this arenaTriage noise3full8/10C

Run scans in CI on every pull request and fail the build on new findings via exit codes C

Ci gates

devops-leadCi precommit — stories about ci precommit in this arenaCi precommit3fullfree8/10C

Run the scanner as a pre-commit hook so secrets and issues never enter my git history C

Pre commit

developerCi precommit — stories about ci precommit in this arenaCi precommit3full8/10C

Self-host the core product G

ai-native userOpenness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness3fullfree8/10C

Define rules that trigger actions automatically on events G

ai-native userAutomation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth3partial5/10C

Have an agent run a scan headlessly via the CLI, parse machine-readable results, and file issues for real findings G

Agent scanning

ai-native userCi precommit — stories about ci precommit in this arenaCi precommit3partial5/10C

Run static analysis that finds vulnerability classes like injection and XSS in my source code C

Code analysis

developerSast rules — stories about sast rules in this arenaSast rules3n/a0/10

Use AI to triage findings — explaining them, deduplicating, and flagging likely false positives C

Ai triage

ai-native userTriage noise — stories about triage noise in this arenaTriage noise3none0/10

Export all of my data in open formats and leave G

ai-native userOpenness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness3n/afreeuntestednone yet

Prevent my data from being used to train AI models G

ai-native userPrivacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture3n/auntestednone yet

Scan container images for OS-package and application-layer vulnerabilities before deploying them C

Containers

devops-leadContainer scanning — stories about container scanning in this arenaContainer scanning3n/auntestednone yet

Scan my dependency manifests and lockfiles for packages with known vulnerabilities C

Sca scanning

developerDependency sca — stories about dependency sca in this arenaDependency sca3n/auntestednone yet

Define custom detection rules for my organization's internal token and secret formats C

Custom detection

security-engineerSecret detection — stories about secret detection in this arenaSecret detection2full8/10C

See scan findings surfaced as pull-request comments or checks in GitHub or GitLab C

Ci gates

developerCi precommit — stories about ci precommit in this arenaCi precommit2full8/10C

Read the product's source under an open license G

ai-native userOpenness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness2fullfree7/10T

Write custom static-analysis rules in a simple syntax and share them across repositories C

Custom rules

security-engineerSast rules — stories about sast rules in this arenaSast rules2partial7/10C

Perform bulk operations across many items at once G

ai-native userAutomation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth2partial6/10C

Scan projects across all the major languages and package ecosystems my organization uses C

Coverage

developerCoverage accuracy — stories about coverage accuracy in this arenaCoverage accuracy2partial6/10C

Emit scan results in machine-readable formats like JSON or SARIF for downstream tooling C

Output formats

developerCoverage accuracy — stories about coverage accuracy in this arenaCoverage accuracy2partial5/10C

Wire the scanner into my coding agent so AI-generated code is scanned for issues before it lands C

Agent scanning

ai-native userCi precommit — stories about ci precommit in this arenaCi precommit2partial4/10C

Apply suggested or automatic code fixes for findings instead of only reading reports C

Fix suggestions

developerSast rules — stories about sast rules in this arenaSast rules2none0/10

Control data retention and deletion G

ai-native userPrivacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture2n/a0/10

Do everything through the API that I can do in the UI G

ai-native userOpenness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness2n/a0/10

Filter and gate on findings by severity or confidence so low-value noise does not block builds C

Fp management

developerTriage noise — stories about triage noise in this arenaTriage noise2none0/10

Scan non-git sources like S3 buckets, Docker images, and CI logs for leaked secrets C

Secret scanning

security-engineerSecret detection — stories about secret detection in this arenaSecret detection2none0/10

Choose where my data is stored (region/residency) G

ai-native userPrivacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture2n/auntestednone yet

Detect taint-style vulnerabilities that flow across files and function boundaries C

Code analysis

security-engineerSast rules — stories about sast rules in this arenaSast rules2n/auntestednone yet

Generate a software bill of materials (SPDX or CycloneDX) for my project or image C

Sbom

security-engineerSupply chain sbom — stories about supply chain sbom in this arenaSupply chain sbom2n/auntestednone yet

Get concrete upgrade paths or automated fix pull requests that remediate vulnerable dependencies C

Dependency fixes

developerDependency sca — stories about dependency sca in this arenaDependency sca2n/auntestednone yet

Have AI draft remediation pull requests for security findings that I review and merge C

Ai remediation

ai-native userSast rules — stories about sast rules in this arenaSast rules2n/auntestednone yet

Have detected secrets verified against the issuing service so I know which ones are live C

Secret scanning

security-engineerSecret detection — stories about secret detection in this arenaSecret detection2noneuntestednone yet

Opt out of telemetry and usage tracking G

ai-native userPrivacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture2nonefreeuntestednone yet

Prioritize dependency alerts by whether the vulnerable code is actually reachable from my code C

Sca scanning

security-engineerDependency sca — stories about dependency sca in this arenaDependency sca2n/auntestednone yet

Scan Terraform, Kubernetes, and other IaC files for security misconfigurations C

Iac misconfig

devops-leadContainer scanning — stories about container scanning in this arenaContainer scanning2n/auntestednone yet

Schedule recurring jobs or workflows G

ai-native userAutomation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth2noneuntestednone yet

Detect the licenses of my dependencies and enforce a license policy in scans C

Licenses

devops-leadSupply chain sbom — stories about supply chain sbom in this arenaSupply chain sbom1n/auntestednone yet

Version, review, and roll back my automations G

ai-native userAutomation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth1n/auntestednone yet

Opportunities — the stories that would move this product's scores, from its own judged verdictsOpportunitiestop 8 of 22 stories with headroom

What would move Gitleaks’s scores — derived from its own judged verdicts, biggest headroom first. Each line quotes what the judge found missing; shipping it (or evidencing it publicly) is the fix.

  1. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productDrive the product through a documented public API

    nonemoves agent-readyimpact 45

    Gitleaks is a CLI/scanner tool with no documented public API for programmatic/agentic access; probes confirm no llms.txt and no OpenAPI/swagger endpoint exist, and the CLI/GitHub Action docs don't constitute a public API.

  2. Triage noise — stories about triage noise in this arenaUse AI to triage findings — explaining them, deduplicating, and flagging likely false positives

    nonemoves PA Scoreimpact 30

    No evidence of any AI-based triage, explanation, deduplication, or false-positive flagging feature; Gitleaks only offers manual allowlists, baselines, and composite rules for reducing noise, none of which use AI.

  3. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productPoint an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs

    nonemoves agent-readyimpact 30

    A direct probe found no llms.txt file (404) and no agent-oriented docs/openapi endpoints, so there is no evidence Gitleaks provides machine-readable docs for AI agents.

  4. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productGet AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product

    nonemoves Built-in AIimpact 30

    Gitleaks is a rule-based secret-detection scanner with no evidence of AI-generated insights, summaries, or suggestions; probes for llms.txt and API/OpenAPI endpoints returned 404, and all documented features are deterministic regex/rule-based scanning, alerting, and CI integration.

  5. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productSubscribe to events via webhooks

    nonemoves agent-readyimpact 30

    Gitleaks is a CLI secret-scanning tool with CI integrations (GitHub Action, PR comments, alerts) but no evidence of a webhook subscription mechanism for events; probes for API/openapi specs returned 404s, and no webhook docs exist.

  6. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productExplore an interactive API reference with runnable examples

    nonemoves API qualityimpact 30

    Gitleaks is a CLI secret-scanning tool with no interactive API reference; probes explicitly show no llms.txt and no OpenAPI/swagger spec found on gitleaks.io, and evidence only documents CLI commands, not a runnable API playground.

  7. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productDownload a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent)

    nonemoves API qualityimpact 30

    Gitleaks is a CLI secret-scanning tool with no API/web service, and direct probes confirm no OpenAPI or machine-readable spec exists at any expected location.

  8. Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productRely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy

    nonemoves API qualityimpact 30

    Gitleaks is a CLI/CI secret-scanning tool with no evidence of a public/versioned API; probes for OpenAPI spec and llms.txt both returned 404s, and there's no mention of an API deprecation policy anywhere in the evidence.

Showing the top 8 of 22 — every none/partial verdict in the story verdicts table is headroom.

Think a verdict is wrong? Every verdicts-table row has a Flag link — see the methodology.

Coverage map — which docs area, API section, or community source covers which judged storiesCoverage map2 surfaces · 18 covered stories

Where the cited evidence behind each covered verdict came from — the same citations the verdicts table shows, no extra judging.

Probe proofs — replayable recordings from the probe harnessProbe proofs

Replayable recordings from our probe harness — see the Prove-It protocol to submit one.

$gitleaks versionreproduced
$ gitleaks version
8.30.1
proves: Use an official CLIrecorded 2026-09-04

Claims vs evidence — vendor claims reconciled against independent verdictsClaims vs evidence

0 of 7 testable claims verified · 1 contradictedintegrity 0/100

16 distinct capability claims found in Gitleaks’s own claimed-docs/GitHub materials, reconciled against our judge’s independent verdicts.

0

Verified

6

Unverified

1

Contradicted

12

Undersold

Unverified (11)
Contradicted (1)
Undersold (12)
Claims outside our story set (4)

Real capability claims found in Gitleaks’s own materials, but no story in this arena’s taxonomy covers them yet — that’s feedback on the taxonomy, not a mark against the product.

  • Scan arbitrary directories and files (not just git repos) for secrets

    source ↗
  • Installable via Homebrew, Docker, or Go

    source ↗
  • Configurable list of GitHub accounts to notify when a leak is detected

    source ↗
  • Provides a 'protected by gitleaks' badge to display in project README

    source ↗
Suggest a story for these →

Business model

open-sourcesponsorware

MIT-licensed open-source secret scanner; the maintainer monetizes via GitHub Sponsors and a license key for organizations using the Gitleaks GitHub Action.

pricing ↗

Score trend

How this product’s scores have moved as evidence and verdicts are re-derived — a point per change, not per day.

PA Score25 (Sep 4 '26)30 (Sep 16 '26)
Agent-ready18 (Sep 4 '26)29 (Sep 16 '26)

Try Experimental

Run it in the microterminal →

Recorded agent sessions — and a live MCP handshake where the vendor ships one.

Flag

⚑ Flag a verdict

Think a verdict is wrong? Opens a prefilled GitHub issue — or use the ⚑ next to any verdict above.

Badge

Embed this product's score badge →

Hotlinked SVG — always shows the live current score.

For agents

Data