🛡️ Git-Guard: Verifying Repo Protection...

Install and verify the machine-wide secret-blocking setup on a repo. Confirms the global pre-commit hook, .gitignore coverage, a non-neutered gitleaks config, and a reachable gitleaks binary.

Activation

When this skill activates, output:

🛡️ Git-Guard: Verifying Repo Protection...

Then execute the protocol below.

What This Skill Is (and Is Not)

Git-Guard is an installer and verifier, not a scanner. It does not grep for secret patterns itself. Its job is to confirm that the protection layers are present, wired up, and actually armed, so that when a secret IS introduced, gitleaks (run by the pre-commit hook) catches it.

The single most dangerous failure this skill exists to catch is a gitleaks config that LOOKS protective but detects nothing (see Check 3). A scanner that silently scans zero rules is worse than no scanner, because it produces a green checkmark while leaving the door open.

Context Guard

Context	Status
User asks "is this repo protected?"	ACTIVE: run all 4 checks
User says "set up / install git-guard"	ACTIVE: run checks, offer fixes
User says "verify gitleaks" / "check git hooks"	ACTIVE: run all 4 checks
New repo, before first commit	ACTIVE: install gitignore + verify config
User wants a deep secret/history audit	DORMANT: defer to secrets-scanner
User is mid-commit and just wants it to pass	DORMANT: do not loosen protection to unblock

Protocol

Run all four checks (Steps 1 to 4), then produce the status report in Step 5. Step 5 is the report itself, not a fifth check. Never silently run a setup or fix command: show the exact command and let the user run it (or confirm first). The one exception is the additive .gitignore append in Check 2, which is safe and reversible and may be applied after showing the diff.

Locating the files shipped with this plugin

Two checks reference files that ship INSIDE this plugin: the pre-commit hook and gitignore-template.txt, both under the plugin's scripts/ directory. After install, those files live in the Claude Code plugin cache, NOT in any fixed location, and NOT in the customer's own project. Resolve <plugin-root> as the plugin folder this SKILL.md was loaded from, walking up out of skills/security/git-guard/ to the folder that contains scripts/.

On a typical install, <plugin-root> looks like this (ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY: the exact path differs per machine and per marketplace):

%USERPROFILE%\.claude\plugins\<marketplace>\cwinvestments-memstack\

To find the real path on the current machine, search the plugin cache:

dir /s /b "%USERPROFILE%\.claude\plugins\gitignore-template.txt"

Substitute the actual resolved <plugin-root> wherever it appears in the commands below. Everything that refers to .gitignore, .gitleaks.toml, or the current repo is relative to the customer's own repo (the current directory), not the plugin.

Step 1: Verify the global pre-commit hook is installed (Check 1)

The pre-commit hook is installed machine-wide via core.hooksPath, so one hook covers every repo on the machine. Confirm it is set AND points at a real directory that contains a pre-commit file.

git config --global core.hooksPath

Then confirm the directory and hook file exist (using the resolved <plugin-root> from the locating note above):

dir "<plugin-root>\scripts\hooks\pre-commit"

Evaluate:

• OK if core.hooksPath is set AND the directory exists AND it contains a pre-commit file.
• GAP if core.hooksPath is empty, points at a missing directory, or the directory has no pre-commit file.

If there is a GAP, show the one-time setup command, pointing at this plugin's hooks directory. Do NOT run it silently:

git config --global core.hooksPath "<plugin-root>\scripts\hooks"

This is a global setting. Confirm the user wants machine-wide coverage before they run it. If they already use a different hooks manager (Husky, lefthook, pre-commit framework), note the conflict instead of overwriting it.

Step 2: Verify .gitignore covers the standard offenders (Check 2)

A repo without a proper .gitignore will happily stage .env, node_modules/, build output, and MemStack session/memory files. Compare the repo's .gitignore against the shipped template.

Check the file exists, then look for the high-value offender patterns:

type .gitignore | findstr /C:".env" /C:"node_modules" /C:"memory/" /C:".serena" /C:"dist/"

The canonical offender list lives in the template shipped with this plugin:

type "<plugin-root>\scripts\gitignore-template.txt"

Evaluate:

• OK if .gitignore exists and covers, at minimum: .env / .env.*, node_modules/, build output (dist/, build/, .next/), and the MemStack internal dirs (memory/, .claude/sessions/, .serena/, .agent-bridge/).
• GAP if .gitignore is missing entirely, or any of those categories is not covered.

If there is a GAP, offer to append the missing lines from the template. This MUST be additive and de-duplicated: never overwrite the existing .gitignore, and never add a pattern that is already present (exact-line match).

Procedure for the additive append:

1. Read both the repo .gitignore and <plugin-root>\scripts\gitignore-template.txt.
2. Compute the set of template lines (ignoring blank lines and comments) that are not already present as exact lines in the repo file.
3. Show the user the exact lines that will be added.
4. Append only those lines, under a clearly labeled section header such as # --- Added by git-guard ---, preserving the existing content untouched.

For a brand-new repo with no .gitignore at all, offer to copy the template verbatim as the starting point:

copy "<plugin-root>\scripts\gitignore-template.txt" .gitignore

Step 3: Verify .gitleaks.toml actually detects something (Check 3) [CRITICAL]

This is the most important check. A .gitleaks.toml can be present and syntactically valid yet detect zero secrets. This exact silent hole has shipped live and undetected in real production repos: the config looks deliberate and protective, so nobody re-checks it.

The neutering pattern: gitleaks builds its active ruleset from (a) any [[rules]] blocks defined in the config, plus (b) its built-in default rules, but ONLY when [extend] useDefault = true is set. A config that has an [allowlist] section but NO [[rules]] blocks and NO [extend] useDefault = true loads zero rules. The allowlist then filters an already-empty result. Gitleaks runs, exits 0, reports nothing, and detects NOTHING. It looks protective. It is not.

Inspect the config:

type .gitleaks.toml

Then check for the three signals:

findstr /C:"useDefault" /C:"[extend]" /C:"[[rules]]" .gitleaks.toml

Evaluate:

• OK (no config): No .gitleaks.toml exists at all. Gitleaks falls back to its built-in default ruleset, which detects secrets. This is safe. Note it, do not flag it.
• OK (armed config): .gitleaks.toml exists AND has at least one of: [extend] with useDefault = true, OR one or more [[rules]] blocks. Detection is active.
• CRITICAL GAP (NEUTERED): .gitleaks.toml exists, has content such as an [allowlist], but has NO [[rules]] block AND NO useDefault = true. Detection is silently disabled.

If NEUTERED, flag it loudly in the report and give the one-line fix. Add this block near the top of .gitleaks.toml:

[extend]
useDefault = true

State plainly: until this line is added, every commit passes the secret scan because the scan has no rules to apply. This is a silent hole, not a warning.

Step 4: Verify gitleaks is installed and reachable (Check 4)

The hook scans with gitleaks when present and degrades to a weaker regex fallback when it is not. Confirm the real binary is reachable.

where gitleaks
gitleaks version

Evaluate:

• OK if where gitleaks resolves a path AND gitleaks version prints a version.
• GAP if gitleaks is not found. The pre-commit hook still runs and falls back to its built-in regex scan, but coverage is far weaker (a handful of patterns vs. gitleaks' full ruleset). Recommend installing it.

If there is a GAP, show install options without running them:

winget install gitleaks

or, if Scoop is in use:

scoop install gitleaks

Step 5: Report status

Produce a single status table covering all four checks, then list specific fixes for each gap. Lead with the overall verdict.

🛡️ Git-Guard Report
Repo: <repo-name>
Branch: <current-branch>

Overall: <PROTECTED / GAPS FOUND / CRITICAL GAP>

| # | Check                         | Status        | Detail                                  |
|---|-------------------------------|---------------|-----------------------------------------|
| 1 | Global pre-commit hook        | ✅ OK          | core.hooksPath set, pre-commit present  |
| 2 | .gitignore coverage           | ⚠️ GAP         | Missing: memory/, .serena/              |
| 3 | gitleaks config armed         | 🔴 CRITICAL    | NEUTERED: no rules, no useDefault       |
| 4 | gitleaks installed            | ✅ OK          | gitleaks 8.x at C:\...\gitleaks.exe     |

## Fixes
1. (Check 2) Append missing patterns to .gitignore:
   <show exact lines>
2. (Check 3) [CRITICAL] Arm gitleaks. Add to top of .gitleaks.toml:
       [extend]
       useDefault = true
   Until then, the secret scan applies zero rules and detects nothing.

## Verdict
<one or two sentences: is this repo safe to commit to right now, and what is the
single most important thing to fix>

Verdict rules:

• CRITICAL GAP overrides everything else: if Check 3 is NEUTERED, the repo is NOT protected even if the hook is installed and gitleaks is present, and the report must say so. A neutered config is the worst case because it hides behind a passing scan.
• GAPS FOUND if any non-critical check is a GAP.
• PROTECTED only when all four checks are OK.

Status Levels

Level	Meaning	Action
🔴 CRITICAL	gitleaks config is neutered: scanning is silently off	Add [extend] useDefault = true immediately
⚠️ GAP	A protection layer is missing or weakened	Apply the shown fix before relying on protection
✅ OK	Layer present and armed	No action needed

How the Layers Fit Together

Layer	Role	What happens if it is missing
core.hooksPath + pre-commit	Runs the scan on every commit, every repo	No commit is scanned at all
.gitignore	Stops obvious files (.env, memory/) being staged	Sensitive files get staged and reach the scanner
.gitleaks.toml	Configures WHAT gitleaks detects	If neutered, the scanner detects nothing
gitleaks binary	Does the actual deep detection	Hook degrades to a weak regex fallback

Git-Guard verifies all four. gitleaks does the scanning. They are different jobs: never reach for git-guard to find secrets, and never assume an installed hook means detection is on. Check 3 is why.

Related Skills

• secrets-scanner (Pro): deep secret audit, git history analysis, client-side exposure, remediation planning
• rls-checker / rls-guardian: Supabase Row Level Security auditing and enforcement
• api-audit: API route auth/authz review

Level History

• Lv.1: Base installer/verifier. Four-check protocol plus a status report: global pre-commit hook (core.hooksPath), .gitignore coverage with additive append from the shipped template, gitleaks config neutering detection (the silent allowlist-only hole that has shipped live in real production repos), and gitleaks binary reachability, followed by a consolidated report with a CRITICAL-overrides verdict. (Origin: MemStack, Jun 2026)