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Enabling secret scanning for your repository

You can configure how GitHub scans your repositories for leaked secrets and generates alerts.

Who can use this feature?

Secret scanning is available for the following repository types:

  • Public repositories on GitHub.com
  • Organization-owned repositories on GitHub Team or GitHub Enterprise Cloud with GitHub Secret Protection enabled
  • User-owned repositories for GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Enterprise Managed Users

About enabling secret scanning alerts for users

Secret scanning alerts for users can be enabled for any repository that is owned by an organization, and for repositories owned by user accounts when using GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Enterprise Managed Users.

If you're an organization owner, you can enable secret scanning for multiple repositories at a time using security configurations. For more information, see About enabling security features at scale.

If your organization is owned by an enterprise account, an enterprise owner can also enable secret scanning at the enterprise level. For more information, see Creating a custom security configuration for your enterprise.

Enabling secret scanning alerts for users

Secret scanning alerts for users are enabled when you enable Secret Protection for your repository.

  1. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.

    Screenshot of a repository header showing the tabs. The "Settings" tab is highlighted by a dark orange outline.

  3. In the "Security" section of the sidebar, click Advanced Security.

  4. To the right of "Secret Protection", click Enable.

  5. Review the impact of enabling Secret Protection, then click Enable Secret Protection.

A repository administrator can choose to disable secret scanning for a repository at any time. For more information, see Managing security and analysis settings for your repository.

Next steps