# Redact passwords

> Redact plaintext passwords from configuration dumps, tickets, and transcripts before they are shared.

Canonical: https://bitbanger.in/entities/password
Last updated: 2026-10-27

Category: Credentials and secrets · Entity type: `credential.password`

Passwords have no shape, so this type is inferred from context: a password label followed by a value. It is imperfect by nature, which is why it is worth using alongside a secrets manager rather than instead of one.

## How Redactly detects passwords

- Detected from a password or passphrase cue followed by the value; the value must contain a digit or be a credential-style token.
- No format or length assumption is made.
- Rotating anything this catches is still the right response: redaction protects the copy, not the secret.

## Why redact passwords?

A plaintext password in a shared log is a live credential, not a historical record.

## Example request

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.bitbanger.in/v1/redact \
  -H "X-API-Key: rdct_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "DB_PASSWORD=hunter2-prod, host=db.internal.example.com", "style": "replace"}'
```

## FAQ

**Does Redactly redact passwords automatically?**

Yes. Send text to the API and every detected type is redacted, including passwords. To redact only this type, pass the value credential.password in the entities filter. No training or configuration is required.

**What happens to passwords after redaction?**

With style set to replace, each match becomes [credential.password] — the entity type in square brackets. Setting style to mask replaces every character with a block character, and remove deletes the span entirely.

## Related entity types

- [API keys](https://bitbanger.in/entities/api-key) — Redact AWS, OpenAI, Anthropic, GitHub, Google, Slack, and Hugging Face API keys from logs and pasted text.
- [Private keys](https://bitbanger.in/entities/private-key) — Redact PEM private keys, header and body, from logs and pasted configuration before they are stored or shared.
- [Login credentials](https://bitbanger.in/entities/login-credentials) — Redact username and password pairs from pasted transcripts, config files, and support threads.

Try it on your own text: https://bitbanger.in/entities/password