# Install git-hound with Homebrew, Nix

Git plugin that prevents sensitive data from being committed. Version 1.0.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-29. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#git-hound.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:git-hound
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install git-hound
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#git-hound
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/gi/git-hound/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:git-hound
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.0.0
- **Source summary:** Git plugin that prevents sensitive data from being committed
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/ezekg/git-hound>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/ezekg/git-hound>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-29T16:05:01+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- git-hound (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.0.0
## Project history and usage

git-hound is a Git plugin for preventing sensitive data from entering commits. It checks staged diffs against user-provided PCRE regular expressions before commit operations proceed.

### Project history

The repository was created in November 2015 as a Go command-line plugin. Its README presents Hound as a small Git extension with precompiled release binaries, Go installation, and Homebrew installation paths.

### Adoption history

git-hound fits the mid-2010s rise of local secret-scanning tools, when teams began adding pre-commit checks for passwords, database settings, tokens, and machine-specific paths. Its adoption stayed niche compared with larger scanners, but the repository attracted several hundred stars and was packaged for Homebrew and Nix.

### How it is used

Practitioners run `git hound commit` to sniff staged changes before invoking `git commit`, or `git hound sniff` to scan a commit, a manual diff, a whole codebase, or repository history. The `.githound.yml` file separates warning patterns, failure patterns, and skipped filenames.

### Why package nerds care

The package is interesting because it exposes Git's plugin naming convention: installing `git-hound` makes `git hound` available. It is also a compact example of pre-commit security tooling before secret scanning became a standard hosted-platform feature.

### Timeline

- 2015: GitHub repository created for the Go implementation.
- 2016: Several 0.5.x releases publish packaged binaries.
- 2017: 0.6.x releases continue the pre-1.0 line.
- 2020: 1.0.0 release published.

### Related projects

- git-hound is related to Git hooks, pre-commit frameworks, and secret scanners such as git-secrets and truffleHog, all of which try to catch sensitive strings before or after they enter Git history.

### Sources

- <https://api.github.com/repos/ezekg/git-hound/releases>
- <https://github.com/ezekg/git-hound>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ezekg/git-hound/master/README.md>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## 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: .githound.yml
## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - git-hound: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/gi/git-hound/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1


## Combined YAML source

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