# Install detect-secrets with Homebrew, Nix

Enterprise friendly way of detecting and preventing secrets in code. Version 1.5.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-05-20. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#detect-secrets.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:detect-secrets
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install detect-secrets
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#detect-secrets
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: detect-secrets from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:detect-secrets
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.5.0
- **Source summary:** Enterprise friendly way of detecting and preventing secrets in code
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/Yelp/detect-secrets>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/Yelp/detect-secrets>
- **Last updated:** 2026-05-20T12:50:03Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- detect-secrets (alias)
- detect-secrets-hook (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.5.0
## Project history and usage

detect-secrets is Yelp's open-source command-line scanner for finding secrets in code and, more importantly, preventing newly introduced secrets from entering a repository. Its README describes the baseline workflow as a way to accept existing findings while blocking new ones.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created in December 2017, and the README presents the tool as enterprise-friendly secret detection. Its changelog shows continued 1.x releases through 2024, including new detectors for GitLab, Telegram, PyPI, OpenAI, and IP addresses, plus support for newer Python versions.

### Adoption history

detect-secrets was designed for large repositories where immediately removing every old secret-like value may be impractical. The baseline model helped it fit pre-commit hooks and CI workflows: teams generate .secrets.baseline, audit it, and then use detect-secrets-hook or scans to catch new findings.

### How it is used

The standard package-manager workflow is to install the CLI, run detect-secrets scan into .secrets.baseline, and wire detect-secrets-hook into staged-file or tracked-file checks. The README also documents auditing the baseline and tuning detectors and filters for local policy.

### Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about detect-secrets because it is a practical DevSecOps CLI with a persistent config artifact rather than a one-shot grep-like scanner. It sits alongside pre-commit, GitHub secret scanning, trufflehog-style tools, and policy-driven CI checks.

### Timeline

- 2017: GitHub repository created for Yelp/detect-secrets.
- 2020: 0.14.x releases continued the pre-1.0 series.
- 2022: 1.2.0 added CI and release-pipeline work plus new token detectors.
- 2024: 1.5.0 added OS-agnostic baseline support and more modern token detectors.

### Related projects

- The project is commonly used with pre-commit-style hooks, CI pipelines, and other secret-scanning tools that enforce repository hygiene.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/Yelp/detect-secrets>
- <https://github.com/Yelp/detect-secrets/blob/master/README.md>
- <https://github.com/Yelp/detect-secrets/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/Yelp/detect-secrets>


## Security Notes

No matching local secret-handling manifest was found for detect-secrets. Nucleus package metadata is still published here so future coverage has a stable package URL.



## Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.


## Configuration files

- Unix: .secrets.baseline
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - detect-secrets: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: detect-secrets from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/master/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/detect-secrets.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/detect-secrets.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated configuration and credential file locations
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph